There has never been a scandal like the Jensen Huang affair

Detailed summary

A journey through the annals of corporate crises | World News

Editor’s note (November 12th 2026): This article has been updated to take account of Jensen Huang’s resignation.

In the gossip columns it is the story of a steamy affair between an American billionaire who wears a leather jacket and a younger woman who allegedly works for Chinese intelligence. On Wall Street it illustrates a three-fold concentration risk: the danger of a stock market which depends on one technology, which depends on one firm, which depends on one man. In Washington they talk of a rotten Commerce Department, the closeness of President Donald Trump to tech bosses, and divisions in the Republican Party over China. “Two clichés make us laugh. A hundred clichés move us,” wrote Umberto Eco of the film “Casablanca”. And so it is with the Jensen Huang affair: not one scandal, but many.

The annals of corporate crisis contain nothing like it. Chief executives frequently face trouble in the boardroom over something that has happened in the bedroom. Every few years some more serious crisis fundamentally changes how the world views an important firm. These things do not happen simultaneously. John Browne was the oil industry’s “sun king”. In 2007 the BP boss resigned after telling a “white lie” in court about a relationship: a mark on the man, but not so much his firm. Conversely, there was not one individual to blame for, and nothing titillating about, BP’s oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico three years later.

After the crisis comes the crisis response. This means a press release which attempts to maximise contrition and minimise legal risk. Mr Huang sent an all-staff email which mixed the panicked clichés of the disloyal husband (“cannot undo what I have done”) with those of the disgraced leader (“privilege of my life”). In all communications, the word “independent” must be used as frequently and liberally as possible: Nvidia’s “independent directors” tasked “independent counsel” to do an “independent investigation”. Sides are quickly chosen.

Bad news often begets…

Opening of the article, excerpted from Hindustan Times. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.