The unfolding Jensen Huang scandal: a timeline

Detailed summary

Jensen Huang has resigned from Nvidia following an affair, which could have ramifications for national security as the U.S. and China race to develop the most advanced AI infrastructure.

Nvidia co-founder and now former CEO Jensen Huang has never been as flashy or controversy-prone as AI leaders like OpenAI’s Sam Altman or SpaceXAI’s Elon Musk. Now, the 63-year-old industry kingpin has admitted that he cheated on his wife of 40 years in affairs that could have ramifications beyond Huang’s personal life and U.S. national security.

U.S. officials believe that one of Huang’s likely romantic interests, Megaspeed executive Alice Huang, is a Chinese spy who has been feeding information back to Beijing. (Alice Huang, a Chinese citizen, is of no relation to Jensen Huang.)

Megaspeed is a Singapore-based AI infrastructure company that reportedly purchased $4.8 billion in Nvidia chips over the last two years. The U.S. and Singapore have both previously investigated Megaspeed over suspicions that the firm was illegally sharing chips with China. The Justice Department has since taken over the federal investigation into the company, The New York Times has reported.

The story took a sudden new turn on Wednesday. Citing five people who worked at Nvidia, the Times reported that Huang also had an extramarital relationship with Kimberly Powell, the company’s vice president of healthcare, who reports directly to him. Nvidia, Huang, and Powell have not confirmed the report. Reached by a Times reporter, Huang reportedly said, “I don’t think you should be talking to me directly,” before hanging up.

By early Thursday morning, Huang was no longer CEO of the company he co-founded 33 years ago. Then, Thursday afternoon, Reuters dropped another bombshell, publishing a report alleging that Huang had yet another extramarital affair with another unnamed Nvidia employee.

The U.S. and China are embroiled in a fierce technological arms race to build the most advanced AI infrastructure, which could shape each country’s economic future, military prowess, and capacity for innovation.

As the controversy unfolds, we are organizing the most relevant events into a reverse-chronological timeline…

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