The Spy Who Loved Je Long Time: Part 2

In five weeks, Nvidia's founder and CEO went from the most admired executive in tech to out of a job. On Thursday, Nvidia announced that Jensen Huang had resigned as president, CEO and board member, effective immediately. CFO Colette Kress is interim CEO. Wall Street's reaction was immediate.

Who's who

• Jensen Huang, 63. Co-founder of Nvidia and its CEO since 1993. Admitted in a Nov. 8 memo to staff that he had been "unfaithful" to his wife, Lori Huang.
• Alice Huang (Huang Le). An executive at Megaspeed. U.S. officials allege she works for China's Ministry of State Security. This is unproven: China calls it a smear, and Singapore says it never investigated her for espionage.
• Kimberly Powell, 48. Nvidia's vice president of health care, reporting to Huang. The New York Times, citing five employees, reported she had an affair with him. Huang, Powell and Nvidia have not confirmed it.
• Megaspeed. A Singapore-based AI infrastructure company and one of Nvidia's biggest Southeast Asian customers, reportedly buying about $4.8 billion of Nvidia chips over two years. It is under U.S. and Singaporean investigation over suspected export violations, and denies wrongdoing.
• Colette Kress. Nvidia's CFO, now also interim CEO.
• Harvey C. Jones. Former Synopsys CEO and an Nvidia director since 1993, named the board's first-ever chair.
• Marco Rubio. Secretary of State, who reportedly oversaw a classified memo warning Trump officials about the relationship.

Timeline

1. 2024Huang is reportedly seen socializing with Alice Huang in Taiwan. A Commerce Department official visiting Megaspeed's Malaysian data center finds Nvidia equipment still in its boxes, raising concerns it was being diverted.
2. 2025The U.S. and Singapore both investigate Megaspeed over suspected export violations. Singapore interviews Alice Huang and holds her passport.
3. Spring 2026A classified memo, drafted under Rubio's supervision and reportedly based on surveillance, warns that Alice Huang is a Chinese intelligence asset close to Huang.
4. Oct. 29The New York Times reports a close relationship between the two. Nvidia calls her interactions with Huang "not unusual."
5. Nov. 5The chairs of three House committees ask Huang for a closed-door briefing.
6. Nov. 6The Times reports the existence of the Rubio memo.
7. Nov. 8 (Sun.)Huang tells employees he was unfaithful to his wife. The board opens an independent investigation. Trump defends him.
8. Nov. 9 (Mon.)The Justice Department takes over the Megaspeed case. Nvidia stock falls about 4%. Huang withdraws from public speaking events.
9. Nov. 10 (Tue.)Nvidia falls another 5.5%.
10. Nov. 11 (Wed.)The Times reports the second affair, with Powell. The Wall Street Journal reports the board is preparing to remove Huang. The board meets into the night; its SEC filing says it accepted his resignation that day. Shares drop roughly 7–10% after hours.
11. Nov. 12 (Thu.)Nvidia announces the resignation, Kress as interim CEO and Jones as chair. Megaspeed says it will cooperate with U.S. investigators. Singapore bars Alice Huang from re-entering. Beijing calls the spy claims smears.

The accusations, sorted

• Confirmed: Huang admitted to an extramarital affair. He resigned. The DOJ is investigating Megaspeed.
• Alleged by U.S. officials: that Alice Huang is a Chinese intelligence operative. Unproven, and denied by Beijing.
• Reported, unconfirmed: the affair with Powell, and that Huang's security team offered a witness a nondisclosure agreement.
• Under investigation: whether Nvidia chips sold through Megaspeed and related firms reached China in violation of export controls. Nvidia's board says it has no reason to believe secrets or national security were compromised.

The market damage

Exact figures vary by outlet and time of day, but the direction doesn't.

• Nvidia: down about 4% Monday and 5.5% Tuesday, then a further drop of roughly 10% to 16% around the resignation (CNBC, The Hill, City AM). That pushed the company back below a $4 trillion valuation. Axios estimated nearly $1 trillion in value lost after the spy reports, before the resignation.
• The broad market: Nvidia is roughly 6% of the S&P 500, so when it falls, everyone's index fund feels it. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both fell Thursday.
• Chips: the semiconductor ETF dipped about 1% and Micron fell around 5%. Rivals benefited: AMD rose about 3% and Broadcom up to 6%. Companies backed by Nvidia got hit, with Nebius down 19%.
• Analysts: Bernstein cut its price target in half, from $400 to $200. Janus Henderson called the exit a "clearing event" that removes uncertainty.

What happens next

• Leadership: Nvidia has never had a CEO other than Huang. Kress is a respected CFO, but the job is a product-and-vision role. The board says it will consider internal and external candidates, and who it picks will signal whether Nvidia stays founder-style or becomes a more conventional company.
• Governance: creating an independent chair for the first time shifts power from the founder to the board.
• Washington and Beijing: the DOJ's Megaspeed case, a congressional briefing request, and senators asking Commerce to preserve records all keep export controls in the spotlight. Tighter rules or penalties would hit Nvidia's China and Southeast Asia sales.
• Customers and competitors: Huang personally closed a lot of deals. A leadership gap is an opening for AMD, Broadcom and custom chips from cloud giants.
• Your 401(k): with this much of the S&P riding on one company, Nvidia's next CEO is everybody's business.

The Intern will keep following it.

To be continued in Part 3.

This story is going to require some up close and personal investigation, and Tha Intern will have to get hands on. We had no idea that Jensen loves pussy more than James Bond, but we are excited for the opportunity to investigate the Bond Biddies he has left in his wake. We have no idea where Part 3 of this story will lead us, but we are hoping it requires a three-way with his Bond Biddies.