Nvidia CEO, Jensen Huang, resigns

Well, it is the end of an era for NVIDIA and its key leader in the global AI race. CEO Jensen Huang has resigned four days after admitting to an affair with a suspected Chinese spy. Since then, there have been reports of two more affairs, both with NVIDIA employees. Scandal now raising questions about the lack of internal and external oversight, with members of Congress calling for Huang to testify on Capitol Hill. KTVU's Jana Katsuyama reports on the company's future. The announcement from NVIDIA headquarters in Santa Clara came early Thursday. NVIDIA posted a statement saying, quote, Jensen Huang has resigned as president, chief executive officer, and a member of the board, effective immediately. The board and the company thanked Jensen for his immeasurable contributions to the company and the industry. Jensen Wong, the founder of the AI chip making company, became a prominent face, not just of NVIDIA, but the growing AI sector. But pressure has mounted after reports in a New York Times investigation that he had multiple extramarital affairs with an alleged spy for China and an NVIDIA employee, Kimberly Powell. Powell, seen here on the company's website, is listed as vice president of health care and has been an employee since 2008. I think that this was probably widely known within NVIDIA already, or at least within some circles within NVIDIA. And my interpretation is that it was released so that the board would have an excuse to get rid of him. Santa Clara University business professor Joellen Posner has studied NVIDIA's corporate structure. She says the appointment of Colette Kress, the chief financial officer, as interim CEO and CFO is a good move. She has a direct relationship with the board. As CFO, she would be reporting directly to the board, so she's a known quantity to that team. NVIDIA also announced its first-ever board chair, Harvey Jones. The fact that the board didn't have a chair for 33 years is really unusual, and it suggests that Jensen really had been in control of the board as well as the company itself. The professor says four of the 10 board members had been on the board since NVIDIA's founding in 1993. She also says Huang's ties to President Trump raises questions about the U.S. government's oversight role in security matters with a sensitive competition over AI chip supplies and development. It's very complicated, though, because NVIDIA has also given the White House a fraction of the revenue on all of its sales to China already. So there's a lot of entanglement between Washington and NVIDIA. Our goal is to get him in as soon as possible. So that we have a full understanding of the facts. All of this comes as NVIDIA is preparing to face investors. The third quarter financial reporting call has been set for next Tuesday, November 17th. Reporting from NVIDIA headquarters in Santa Clara, Jana Katsuyama, KTVU, Fox 2 News. Well, Democrats are also calling for an investigation. Congressman-elect Scott Wiener stating today, quote, Congress needs to fully investigate Mr. Wang's actions, including his apparent lobbying of the president to authorize advanced chip sales to our top global rival, China. President Trump.