NVIDIA Announces CEO Transition

(nvidianews.nvidia.com)

674 points | by lldb 58 minutes ago

110 comments

  • duplessitous 50 minutes ago
    I hope people understand that the affairs are not the reason he is being fired - NVIDIA has supposedly been skirting the export ban put in place by the previous administration. This was put in place for national security reasons. Whether you agree or disagree with the ban, it exists and Jensen&NVIDIA are in a world of trouble if this comes to light.

    From all the reporting I've read, it is hard for me to avoid the conclusion that NVIDIA sold to China despite the export ban. I'd love to be wrong

    • kphorn 42 minutes ago
      The image of Nvidia advocating for exports of GPUs to china while compromised by an allegedly Chinese agent is the real issue here. Endless congressional hearings on that topic starting in Jan. The Nvidia corp still has to answer for that even when Jensen is out.
      • verramilli 37 minutes ago
        +1. Jensen getting really heated when pressed by Dwarkesh over China during his interview can be seen in new light now.
        • ciupicri 1 minute ago
        • Betelbuddy 5 minutes ago
        • ericmay 13 minutes ago
          I remember listening to that and thinking, this sounds like a guy who is primarily focused on selling chips and is brushing away legitimate concerns in a way that, I just did not find very compelling. A little bit too much protest you might say. Not to say there isn't or wasn't validity to his arguments, but in light of the current circumstances it seems to me that those arguments are quite a bit less valid than they were, and I've certainly swung my personal opinion from being on the fence to a hard no to selling these chips to Chinese buyers.

          If the Chinese Communist Party are going through such great lengths to obtain these advanced Nvidia chips, it further invalidates a lot of what I've been reading here and elsewhere about China "catching up" or that being the leading models isn't what matters (commoditization). You don't do stuff like this unless you really need something.

          • ricardobeat 3 minutes ago
            But what’s the point ultimately? Delaying their progress by a couple years?

            Not selling them chips virtually guarantees that they will learn how to make their own, very quickly. The end result of that is much, much worse for the USA - and leave Taiwan in a much weaker position in the near future. It’s a “shooting yourself on the foot with a shotgun” moment.

      • softwaredoug 35 minutes ago
        Also that its intertwined with asking the corrupt administration to relax export regulations
      • spuz 32 minutes ago
        The image is not a problem. That image has existed for months already. The problem is that Huang lost the tenuous protection that Trump and Lutnick agreed to give him so he could avoid jail. On that basis, investors are now scared the company might suddenly be under investigation for export violations.

        https://www.axios.com/2026/11/11/trump-lutnick-nvidia-china-...

        https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-administration-jail-le...

      • theturtletalks 33 minutes ago
        There's speculation that Trump knew about the Chinese spy and Nvidia donated $25M to the White House Ballroom in October 2025.

        Even if this is just a coincidence, Jensen himself came out and said he donated to the ballroom, but kept the amount hidden. In internal documents, Jensen and Nvidia said to keep the amount hidden and it only came out due to disclosure documents from the government.

        • rob74 9 minutes ago
          These "donations" are just par for the course (to use an expression from the current president's favorite sport)...
        • LeBit 7 minutes ago
          Oh! That explains why Trump was so sympathetic to Jensen : "He is suffering. Poor man. He is such a nice guy. And his family… but he is suffering greatly."

          Corrupt from top to bottom.

        • pbhjpbhj 8 minutes ago
          So directly colluding with Russia hasn't taken Trump down, but maybe allowing prohibited exports to China in exchange for money will?

          The audit on the main contractor for that "ballroom" must be wild. I guess that auditor is going to make a pretty penny.

          • theturtletalks 4 minutes ago
            Where did I say this will bring Trump down? Maybe Trump gave the go ahead as long as he gets his cut?
      • mikepurvis 17 minutes ago
        And not that Nvidia is absolved of responsibility but it does make it a little easier if it's the new leadership in the hot seat for those things being like "yeah we did some naughty stuff but it was the last guy and we're working on hard on getting it all cleaned up."
      • rob74 10 minutes ago
        I can think of several more urgent topics for congressional hearings than that honestly...
    • netrap 44 minutes ago
      Not the _only_ reason, sure. However, it's quite common when executives have an affair they will get fired. I think that's just the reality. If you publicly humiliate your family and the business, you're out...
      • neom 37 minutes ago
        I was on the leadership team of a startup that is now public, during that build something like that happened (almost exactly the same as this NVIDIA situation sans the spy stuff), there were effectively 5 of us involved in what the outcome should be and it basically came down to: me and another guy didn't want to sit on a leadership team with someone who exercised judgement that way, to the point that it was me and the other guy or affair person, so affair person was out, even tho it was very painful for the business. Also, I don't think what I just described is particularly uncommon.
        • threetonesun 16 minutes ago
          I have worked at a larger company where the CEO did something similar and across the company all anyone could ask was "why would you do something that dumb", which is not a great way for people to feel about the person supposedly leading the company.
        • estearum 26 minutes ago
          Yeah it's insane how many people are like "bro affairs are totally normal!" (they're not) or "affairs have nothing to do with the business!" (of course they do)

          Look at the NVDA stock chart. There you go! That's why affairs are relevant to business! Business is always about trust, and someone who isn't deserving of their own spouse's trust certainly isn't deserving of anyone else's.

          • inanutshellus 4 minutes ago
            (Agreeing, with an asterisk.)

            Markets care about predictability.

            To that end, it's the secret and the reveal of that secret that's the issue for a leader. If a CEO is open about his socially-unacceptable behavior from the beginning, there's no shock to absorb.

          • darkwater 8 minutes ago
            > Yeah it's insane how many people are like "bro affairs are totally normal!" (they're not) or "affairs have nothing to do with the business!" (of course they do)

            Why? I'm playing a bit devil's advocate here, but why? Because society think it's bad and a leader should be associated with positive views? Because if they got caught they are not smart enough to be the leader?

            Why just this specific thing is to be considered? Why, for example, all the Musk's "extravagances" are not ground for a CEO termination? I'm pretty sure many other CEOs have many of those "extravagances" and manage to keep their position but yet, if you have an affair, you're 100% toasted.

            Maybe I don't understand enough the US culture.

          • vasac 2 minutes ago
            Somehow, that wasn't an issue for Eric Schmidt, who was shagging some publicist while he was Google's CEO (and while happily married). Wonder why.
      • JeremyNT 30 minutes ago
        One of the reasons this behavior is problematic in general is the potential for blackmail. It's not even really a statement about morality, just an acknowledgement that somebody who wants to keep things hidden is going to be beholden to the people who know the secrets.

        "It's not the crime, it's the coverup."

        • chabska 11 minutes ago
          Jensen went to many high profile parties with this woman. I don't see where he's trying to even hide it. Even the kiss was made out in public, not like a hotel room.

          Also, an affair is only blackmail material in a society of prudes. I recall the story about a president who was confronted with condemning photos of his activities by CIA agents, and he pretty much encouraged the agents to publish the photos.

      • tyingq 38 minutes ago
        It seems more common they get fired for either "with a subordinate" or "a relationship with a conflict of interest for the company".

        There are many examples where the outed affair resulted in nothing material when neither of the above was true.

        This case, seems to touch both.

      • hypfer 41 minutes ago
        That is assuming there is a layer above the executive, which is not necessarily the case.

        It is true for anything with a board, of course. But there is no rule mandating boards.

        • bpicolo 39 minutes ago
          Pretty sure all publicly traded companies in the US are required to have a board
          • swiftcoder 27 minutes ago
            Several publicly traded companies have (or had) majority-owner CEOs, which makes it more than a little awkward for the board to fire them. I can't really see the board outing Zuckerberg under similar circumstances
          • hypfer 37 minutes ago
            Most certainly, but the statement was

            > If you publicly humiliate your family and the business, you're out

            There is no "* only applies to publicly traded companies". Hence, it is incorrect.

            The bigger point I am trying to make here being that not everything is investor-driven. People can run businesses without that. It annoys me greatly that HN regularly forgets that.

          • miki123211 25 minutes ago
            In publicly-traded companies, the board is not the ultimate boss, though. That would be the shareholders. And, at Meta and many companies copying Meta's playbook who have IPO'd since (notably including Anthropic, though notably not including Nvidia), founder shares have so much voting power that the founders are effectively in complete control.

            In theory, Nvidia shareholders, if dissatisfied with today's decision, could vote to oust the current board and replace it with people more sympathetic to Huang, who would, as their first decision, re-hire him as CEO, as would be their prerogative. This is... unlikely to happen.

            None of the above is investment advice.

        • antonvs 26 minutes ago
          Public companies in the US are required to have a board of directors. If they’re not a “controlled company” - i.e. no single person controls more than 50% - then a majority of the board are required to be independent, i.e. not employees, executives, or consultants to the company.
      • throw310822 23 minutes ago
        > If you publicly humiliate your family and the business

        I can hardly imagine anything more stupid than judging the aptitude of the CEO of a 5T$ business based on his private love life.

      • johnnyApplePRNG 37 minutes ago
        We know literally nothing about Jensen's private life or if he humiliated his family here.

        Marriages of 41+ years can get into literally any kind of dynamic.

        • Yeri 29 minutes ago
          100%. While I do not condone his actions, publicly we do not know anything about his private life and the dynamics. Until there's a statement from his family, for all we know they may have been separated.

          It's clearly the CN link and/or the cosying up with a customer that is the problem; the board would not care about his private life (and neither should the public, tbh).

          And the open letter sounds more like it was written the way the public would expect a CEO to write.

          • estearum 25 minutes ago
            Then obviously his letter could've said as much. It didn't, ergo an interpretation of available evidence clearly indicates you are wrong.
        • noboostforyou 34 minutes ago
          > or if he humiliated his family here.

          His open letter about his infidelity seems to imply he has embarrassed his wife and family, have you read it?

          • simoncion 4 minutes ago
            > His open letter about his infidelity seems to imply he has embarrassed his wife and family, have you read it?

            He has also said so very many times in so very many ways that Nvidia was absolutely not involved in violation of export control laws regarding the export of its products to China. That -in fact- there was absolutely no smuggling going on and claims to the contrary were utterly baseless and without merit.

            I agree with ohnnyApplePRNG's assertion that we know literally nothing about the private life and situation of Mr. Huang and his family.

            • noboostforyou 1 minute ago
              So because he lied when he denied certain allegations, you don't believe his admissions of guilt? That seems like an odd logical jump.

              > we know literally nothing

              He "literally" wrote about how his actions hurt his family, I'm not sure why there's a second account parroting the exact same phrase.

        • estearum 25 minutes ago
          We do actually know enough to know that the edge cases do not sufficiently apply here to arrive at the conclusion you're implying.
        • esseph 30 minutes ago
          > We know literally nothing about Jensen's private life or if he humiliated his family here.

          Uh... but we do!

          ---

          I owe my family and all of you an apology.

          I was unfaithful to my wife. My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did. I am deeply sorry.

          Throughout my life, my family has given me love and support. They deserve my honesty and loyalty. Instead, I let them down and damaged the life we built together. I take full responsibility for what I did and the hurt I caused, and I accept the criticism that comes with it.

          To my wife and family: I love you. I know an apology cannot undo what I have done. I hope our family will heal and that, over time, I can earn back your trust.

          To my colleagues at NVIDIA, including those I have worked alongside for decades, and to our board, partners, and shareholders around the world: you deserve better from me. Leading NVIDIA is the privilege of my life. My responsibility is to serve you and be worthy of your trust. I have fallen short of that responsibility. I am fully committed to NVIDIA and will work to earn back your confidence.

          Regarding the national security concerns raised in news reports, NVIDIA’s Board of Directors has initiated an independent investigation. I support the investigation and will cooperate fully. I love our country and our company. I am committed to protecting NVIDIA and supporting America’s national security. I am proud and grateful to be an American.

          My family bears no responsibility for my choices. I do. Please give them privacy.

          Jensen

          ---

          Source: https://nvidianews.nvidia.com/news/a-message-to-our-company

      • landl0rd 37 minutes ago
        Which is as it should be. First of all, marriage is a covenant. If someone cannot be trusted to keep his word on that, it's tough to trust him with power over thousands of employees and trillions of dollars. Second, I'm guessing the board asked Huang after the first affair's revelation whether there were more skeletons in his closet, and he said no. Lying to one's board is more than enough reason to be ousted.
        • gwbas1c 22 minutes ago
          > marriage is a covenant

          That's a very narrow view that's a function of one's religion, culture, and values.

          When I was in school, (US) my very Catholic French teacher explained that his uncle, in France, had a mistress. His uncle's wife knew and was okay with it. What my teacher was explaining is that the culture around marriage varies considerably through the world, and you can't take for granted that what we were taught (monogamy) is the standard that others live to, or even expect from you.

        • qwytw 22 minutes ago
          Seems like some weird fundamentalist take. On its own it's purely a private matter between him and his wife (obviously the GPU smuggling stuff is a separate thing). Given that the affair has been semi public for years it's hard to imagine his wife didn't know about it anyway.
      • red-iron-pine 29 minutes ago
        no one cares who you put your dick into if the returns are good and there are no threats to the business. but he only fucked threats to the business.

        he was fucking a spy

        he was fucking one of his direct reports

        what are two things you shouldn't ever do as a CEO of the biggest company in the world?

        this wasn't Cindy the random waitress from the Palo Alto Ruth Chris', these were literally two people he should never be fucking

        he put the company at risk of national security issues and HR lawsuits for what is otherwise painfully mid-tier pussy. he's gotta go.

      • chaorace 28 minutes ago
        It's entirely possible that the board just wasn't that warm on Jensen in the first place. Not cold, not looking to be the tall poppy that gets cut down... but at least willing to give Jensen the boot if given the right push.

        This is how things change. Slowly and then all at once. If the board were more in love with him, they'd probably have been willing to turn a blind eye for just a little while longer. No such luck for Jensen, but we make our own luck in these things.

      • mapcars 31 minutes ago
        Not sure how personal affairs humiliate your business
        • aaronharnly 30 minutes ago
          They do when they're with a subordinate or a vendor, both of which he did. Add on "foreign agent" and you're done.
      • another_twist 33 minutes ago
        Hasnt Elon been jizzing around Silicon Valley for like years now ? I guess enforcing these guidelines requires an independent board.
        • netrap 23 minutes ago
          He isn't married?
        • k12sosse 25 minutes ago
          Doesn't count if you only rub into a cup and have lawyers exchange the fluid. elon, worlds richest virgo
      • miohtama 32 minutes ago
        Good executives go to Epstein island and do not get fired.
      • siva7 34 minutes ago
        Tell me you have no clue how corporations are run without telling me. Furthermore Jensen wasn't some random executive otherwise this wouldn't be now top news all over the world.
    • spiralpolitik 1 minute ago
      The first affair was possibly survivable, although the cost of survival would be high for all involved.

      The second affair was fatal to Jensen Haung. An affair with a direct report is generally a no-no in modern business and would have opened Nvidia up for all kinds of liability issues if they knew in any capacity. If he stayed it would have made a mockery of their code of conduct rules and opened Nvidia up to further legal issues.

    • notenchange 43 minutes ago
      Let’s be real here. Everyone making money out of NVIDIA was more than happy enough to go around the restrictions and see the prices go up due to Chinese demand.

      Having these people saying otherwise is pure hypocrisy.

      • boringg 7 minutes ago
        Unless you are a competitor.
      • shimman 24 minutes ago
        It's a good thing Congress doesn't just care about their opinions then.
        • _verandaguy 11 minutes ago
          In what world is the modern US Congress a good regulator of these kinds of things? Half the people in the Capitol have a literal vested interest in the very companies they claim to be trying to keep on a leash (and I recognize that some of these are inverse instruments, my point still stands).
        • notenchange 10 minutes ago
          My money is on the congress members - including the greatest stock trader of all times, Nancy Pelosi - having just sold their NVIDIA shares right before the spying was uncovered.
    • icyfox 13 minutes ago
      I'll plug our Pretrained episode from Monday here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N97DW8gfCnI - this chip export goes back years, through shell companies that are very easily traceable to Alibaba.
    • karimf 42 minutes ago
      I agree that this is a more likely explanation, given the AI arms race between the US and China.

      I think NVIDIA lose more things by firing Jensen.

      • CyanLite2 36 minutes ago
        Screw him.

        He put US national security at risk just because between his wife and his other mistress, he couldn't keep it in his pants.

        There are some things more important than stock valuation.

        • rileymat2 27 minutes ago
          Possibly, I am a bit tired of the national security argument with hand waving vagueness. It’s generally unfalsifiable because details would be a national security risk. Meanwhile we have seen National Security concerns that were pure lies once we get sufficiently far past it.
        • aurareturn 14 minutes ago
          Or, he was right by advocating for letting China buy Nvidia chips to keep China dependent on US.
        • qwytw 18 minutes ago
          > he couldn't keep it in his pants.

          Or maybe he just simply wanted to make more money by increasing demand for Nvidia's GPUs by tacitly allowing for them to be exported to China though Singapore.

        • Ntrails 30 minutes ago
          > He put US national security at risk

          It is far far worse than that - he lied to shareholders.

    • pwthornton 25 minutes ago
      He committed what looks like some light treason. The fact that he had an affair with a Chinese intelligence asset who helped the CCP bypass import restrictions is why he had to go.
    • ChrisRR 32 minutes ago
      There does seem to be a sway in the reporting towards his relationship with an employee and not the whole trade ban and spy stuff. I'm not sure why that is
      • criddell 7 minutes ago
        Probably A/B testing. People click the salacious stuff, so that's what gets emphasized.
    • giancarlostoro 13 minutes ago
      Why can't it be all of the above? I'm disturbed by the number of posts I'm seeing around social media downplaying the affairs as if this is normal behavior that should be encouraged or allowed. He slept with someone who worked directly under him, under what universe would he be allowed to stay at Nvidia? That's absurd.
    • fsnovask 32 minutes ago
      It'll be a relative slap on the wrist. The US is not going to destroy one of the companies keeping it competitive on the AI landscape right now. Worst case, it is a heavy slap and some individuals go to jail, but the company will be fine.

      But yeah, the affairs are probably just a last straw.

    • coldtea 31 minutes ago
      >NVIDIA has supposedly been skirting the export ban put in place by the previous administration.

      That's not the reason either.

      They never did it in a way that was technically legal iirc.

      And the new administration allowed the exports later anyway.

      Also, even she was a spy (which is unsubstantiated atm), the idea is that what? I can understand her snooping fresh confidential info here and there, in that, case, but what about the sanctions? That just because he got her as gf, he made nvidia evade exports as a favor?

      As if it was his personal bypass and not what the nvidia board wanted for the $$$?

      They're likely worried about the optics of it, and what a Democrat administration, or increased power, would do to Nvidia stocks with such scandal as leverage.

    • seydor 24 minutes ago
      They were allowed to sell to china, just not their top models. It was widely known that china acquired those indirectly.

      What changed is the publicity about the affair. So this is about the affair.

      • lastofthemojito 16 minutes ago
        It's widely known that luxury cars stolen in the west end up shipped to the UAE, where they're resold, frequently to Russian customers.

        So for example, a stolen Porsche could end up being driven by a Russian oligarch.

        Porsche is not on the hook for this. The car was stolen by a third party.

        If a Porsche exec instead had sex with the thief and tossed them the keys to a brand new 911, then they might be on the hook for violating sanctions.

    • phyalow 16 minutes ago
      I think thats correct, I was at GTC in berlin a couple of weeks ago, a number of Chinese firms that are on the export control list were present and had booths… so perhaps this was all rather blatant.
    • mlcrypto 45 minutes ago
      What happens if all the money in the system circulating through AI companies turns out to be ill-gotten gains?
    • TheTrueAres 29 minutes ago
      Being compromised kinda does seem like a reason to be fired. It seemed well known he was doing it since there are plenty of photos over a few years? So it’s more she was a honeypot.
    • throwaw12 9 minutes ago
      China sells stuff to us, let's sell them as well, this way revenues will go up even more and stock market won't crash
    • christkv 4 minutes ago
      They did not even need to sell them physically to China. Many of them ended up in Malaysian datacenters that rented them to China.

      Gamer Nexus looked at it like a year ago https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1H3xQaf7BFI

    • zerr 30 minutes ago
      Does it mean we will have mass produced cheaper graphics cards? Akin to flagship killer mobile phones and other hardware? Sounds good.
    • LastTrain 32 minutes ago
      The affair is what led to this, demonstrating why it actually should matter if your CEO is having one. Ethics and trust should matter.
    • ActionHank 42 minutes ago
      It may well be that it's his private life and it doesn't have much to do with things, but it is a contributing factor. The skirting of export bans was the reagent, but the infidelity is the catalyst that is making it much bigger.

      CEO is supposed to be a high integrity position despite most tech CEOs trying to pretend that is not the case. If this person cannot be loyal to those closest to him, how can he be loyal to the company or shareholders?

    • sharpshadow 42 minutes ago
      They didn’t sold the chips directly to China, they sold them to Megaspeed and they sold the compute to China.
      • esseph 27 minutes ago
        It looks like there's quite a bit of them that made their way directly to China, and that they knew that was where they would eventually end up.
        • Fricken 6 minutes ago
          I've heard rumours that 20-40% of Nvidia's revenue was coming from sanctioned chips that make their way into Chinese data centres. If true, it's not small potatoes.
      • forgotTheLast 34 minutes ago
        Wilful blindness is not a valid defense
    • shin_lao 42 minutes ago
      The previous and current administration.

      This is obviously something that has been postponed for after the midterms.

    • boringg 10 minutes ago
      Um hard negative to what you are saying. It is absolutely fundamental to the issue -- its compounds the issues around assessing Jensen's judgement.

      This story has more to it that will come to light .. I'm sure of it.

    • cataphract 15 minutes ago
      > Jensen&NVIDIA are in a world of trouble if this comes to light

      Are they though? As long as they're in the good graces of Trump, is the Justice Department going to do anything about it?

    • jonathanstrange 23 minutes ago
      Everybody should be against the export ban. It's laughable to claim that it is for "national security", it's blatant protectionism to cover US AI companies for the fact that they operate at monumental losses. Any country in the world should be allowed to buy the hardware they need to run AI, if they need it, and if the roles were reversed the US should also be allowed to buy tech from other countries. Graphic cards aren't nuclear bombs, and AI is a multi-use core technology every nation on earth should have access to. So far, China has made a far better impression in that respect than the US. At least they have published open weight models.

      The future will be commoditized local AI anyway, so it doesn't matter in the long run. I just needed to rant a bit about the US hypocrisy in that matter.

      • uxp100 1 minute ago
        Basically every technology is dual use, but still I basically agree, there is an incredible level of anti-China rhetoric in the US right now, not just on the right. The Chip export ban is incredibly tricky reason the outcomes of. For one thing, doesn’t it change the China Taiwan relationship?
    • bluepeter 41 minutes ago
      As though the Board had no idea of this, and are suddenly acting oh gosh this is the first we've heard of the phantom SG revenue! Time for Jensen to go. Nah, not buying it. Many of the board have been w JH since the early 1990s. This is because his reckless disregard for the company and his years-long relationship with a Chinese spy.
    • martiverse 2 minutes ago
      Did your TV tell you that? I hope you realize that there is absolutely no proof of the import ban having been skirted. The FBI has been investigating Alice Huang and Megaspeed since 2024 and all they have is a few GPUs still being unboxed at their Malaysian data center.
    • ACCount39 41 minutes ago
      Him taking the stance of "we should be allowed to sell all the GPUs to China" was bad enough in itself.

      Now that the possibility of him being compromised by an actual Chinese spy AND the possibility of Nvidia actually sanction-busting to ship to China regardless are on the table? Both at the same time, no less?

      Yeah, that kind of liability is bonkers. Jensen might be too vital to load him into a cannon and fire him into the sun, but I'm not at all surprised that Nvidia wants him gone from the big post.

    • rzerowan 15 minutes ago
      I dont think its more soo about the ban as China itself has 'officially' blocked the chips that were being licensed as exportable. I think its more of the asks that were being made by the NATSec and Amodie aligned actors (see the pod he had with Dwarkesh ), to ho tighter and more aggressive. Basically Jensen was sort of the brake on the impulsive ideas getting thrown around on how to 'win' AI and create a moat against all latecomers.

      In any case pushing him out allows a freer hand for their shenanigans , so well know shortly what the asks were that he pushed back on (kill switches in chips?) if they get announced.

      Also his role will be difficult to fill , seeing as hes had biz/gov relations going back decades with all relevant players in the semi industry from design ,litho,fabs to packaging etc.

    • kaibee 42 minutes ago
      > From all the reporting I've read, it is hard for me to avoid the conclusion that NVIDIA sold to China despite the export ban.

      I thought this was like, basically an open secret? Like... I'm sure they stayed within the technical letter of the law? Except if any of the laws required them to not be grossly negligent and not be cartoonishly naive. So that they can later argue that they couldn't possibly have known that chips going to South East Asia were being resold to China?

    • Topfi 43 minutes ago
      Very much agreed, the second this became clear his position was untenable. He will surely have launched his unicorn by the end of December regardless, I’d be surprised if this had any tangible repercussions outside the divorce court.

      Very much dislike that this in large part is overshadowed by his adultery, which should be considered separate and treated totally private, at least for the sake of his family.

    • Roark66 2 minutes ago
      Well, you say that, but the perception is he hasn't got sacked for circular financing, nor for the providing of sanctioned components (supposedly they went to third countries, not China, so legal). But he got sacked for two affairs.

      This seems very silly.

      In all likelihood he got sacked for all those things, the affairs just were a convenient excuse.

      What board would admit two thirds of their revenue is imaginary money. It's much better to sack a CEO for being "unfaithful to his wife".

    • michelvocks 40 minutes ago
      I just find it weird that trump loses the midterms and suddenly this happens. Might be a coincident but feels very sus.
    • snowwrestler 20 minutes ago
      NVIDIA has supposedly been skirting the export ban put in place by the previous administration—with the tacit permission of the current administration.

      The problem now is the very public optics of that coming to light in the context of having an affair with a maybe spy.

    • Betelbuddy 24 minutes ago
      Biggest valuation ever will turn into biggest investor lawsuit ever. The music on the AI circular deals is about to be broken by a feminine spell. This has Lord of the Rings all over it...

      NVDA at $151 right now...I never expected to see the day...

    • dyauspitr 12 minutes ago
      It’s not the side chicks, it’s the side chips.
    • bartender26 30 minutes ago
      Pretty sure he was fucking a Chinese spy though... so...
    • outside1234 17 minutes ago
      He ALSO slept with a direct report, which would get most of us fired too.
    • throwaway27448 21 minutes ago
      > national security reasons

      We've really run this term into the ground, haven't we? They don't even bother to try to convince us that China wants to hurt us anymore before making our lives shitty for it.

    • baalimago 40 minutes ago
      > supposedly

      According to who?

      • duplessitous 36 minutes ago
        There is a wealth of reporting out there, it is harder to ignore this story than to read about it. My statement was couched and is clearly just my opinion, I'll leave the reading to you and let you form your own conclusions
    • lenerdenator 45 minutes ago
      A lot of people in this industry have gotten it into their heads over the last 25 years that if you create enough value, you get to ignore things like "rules", "laws" and "common sense".

      Part of me is hopeful after this. Huang did something that was, at the very least, profoundly stupid, and just short of treason at worst. However, I'm also filled with dread, because I know that this means that there will be even more of an effort by founders to make sure they're immune from consequences from boards if they go public. You already see this at Meta and with Zuckerberg.

      We need real reforms on corporate governance that make this sort of situation - a board able to control the C-suite - the norm, not the exception.

      • miki123211 14 minutes ago
        TBH, I find the manner in which this was done to be pretty distasteful.

        The US government initiating action against Nvidia for breaking the law, causing the affair to come to light? Yeah, that'd be fine by me. Somebody inside that government tattling tales to the NY Times, possibly with tacit consent of their superiors? That I have concerns with.

        I've seen a theory floated online that somebody inside the government, who was part of the faction advocating for stricter sanctions on China, leaked this in a way to cause maximum damage to the anti-restrictions faction. Whether Huang (female Huang) was actually a Chinese spy in the first place is also up in the air, keep in mind that while the affair has almost certainly occurred, given that Huang (male) has admitted to it himself, the Chinese spy allegations are still unverified. It could possibly have been a "grain of truth in a sea of lies" play.

      • wesapien 17 minutes ago
        Its a threat to their own companies and whatever amount of democracy is there. Maybe ego is like some cancer that kills/self-ded structs its host/person if it gets big enough. Which is good. A persons etreme wealth gets them political power and also advantages before the law. We've seen this with big corporations.
      • squidmaster 9 minutes ago
        [dead]
      • gib444 34 minutes ago
        > A lot of people in this industry have gotten it into their heads over the last 25 years that if you create enough value, you get to ignore things like "rules", "laws" and "common sense".

        That's literally how the world works? And has worked for many centuries or longer. By "value" you mean wealth, and wealthy people can get away with murder. They buy and write the law and have the best lawyers in the world.

        We won't have billionaires/trillionaires/kings AND rule of law for /everyone/ equally - the world doesn't work that way.

    • echelon 42 minutes ago
      I don't think so.

      I think it was the affair with the direct report that did him in.

      That's a bigger no-no than selling to spies, especially when the administration knew about it and did nothing.

    • jmyeet 33 minutes ago
      There is zero possibility than Jensen Huang faces any serious consequences for this. NVidia is too big and Huang is too wealthy. This administration in particular would never prosecute that. And, even if they did, a pardon is only $1-3 million anyway.

      I believe it was the affair with the married subordinate that was the real problem. There's a huge amount of legal exposure for NVidia with that. With the Chinese spy he can portray himself as the victim. As I've said elsewhere, with billionaire corporate security and the support of the US government, It's astounding to me that this happened at all.

      Also I'm reminded of this quote [1]:

      > If you find two ants in your kitchen, the best estimate of the total number of ants in your kitchen is not two

      [1]: https://x.com/_NathanCalvin/status/2084856543561093535

    • jMyles 30 minutes ago
      > Whether you agree or disagree with the ban, it exists and Jensen&NVIDIA are in a world of trouble if this comes to light.

      ...maybe. Or maybe not. Consistency in application of the law is not exactly at an all-time high right now.

    • lesuorac 45 minutes ago
      Except the administration has known about them skirting it since day 1.

      So it’s no longer about national security. What changed now compared to 2 years ago to make Trump care? Did Jenson reduce SpaceX’s allocation?

      • nemomarx 42 minutes ago
        The midterms seem like the most obvious timing. Trump has a little less power and everyone is starting to plan for what happens after him - jockeying for being able to say they didn't support this and that. If it was only being ignored because Mr Huang could donate a lot of money to Trump's ballroom that deal probably isn't as important now.
      • CodingJeebus 40 minutes ago
        > What changed now compared to 2 years ago to make Trump care?

        We all now know that Trump knew about it, that's what has changed. It was fine when this was private, but now his administration is starting to get questions around why his Commerce department punted the initial investigation to DOJ where it ultimately died as the opposition party is about to retake Congress with investigations top of mind.

      • jsw97 38 minutes ago
        You have put your finger on it.

        Likely there was at least a feeling of mutual understanding between Jensen and key people in the administration. Now the wind has turned in a big way and none of that is on paper. And in fact what is on paper points in the wrong direction.

        Probably the only thing protecting NVDA from prosecution right now is that nobody in the White House wants to pop the AI bubble. That might protect Jensen too because he would entangle the company. There will be an interesting tension with congressional oversight. Buy popcorn and NVDA vol.

      • cogman10 38 minutes ago
        Yeah, over a year ago the likes of Gamers Nexus was able to follow the clues to figure out how Nvidia was skirting the export ban.

        It's hard to believe the US government was so incompetent that they didn't do the investigation a YouTuber did (But not impossible).

        The export ban was always BS. Unless you are going to do a total ban and all parts are manufactured in the US, then it is just 1 additional hop to get stuff into China.

    • throwaway2037 18 minutes ago

          > Nvidia has supposedly been skirting the export ban put in place by the previous administration
      
      I want to add some nuance to this statement. There is a difference between:

      (1) actively assisting/violating the export ban. There is no evidence, nor any ongoing gov't investigation regarding this accusation.

      (2) buyers redirecting legitimate, legal purchases to mainland Chinese companies. There is evidence and multiple ongoing gov't investigations by (a) Department of Justice, (b) Federal Bureau of Investigation, and (c) Department of Commerce.

      I cannot find any senior Nvidia executives that have been charged with crimes for directly assisting/violating the export ban. That said, there may be ongoing gov't investigations, but I could not find any public press about them.

    • aaa_aaa 43 minutes ago
      And, there is no spy business. They just want a more compliant CEO. What a *hit show.
    • Matl 41 minutes ago
      Elon Musk has an AI bot generating explicit images without consent, regardless of age, yet nobody's firing him.

      While Jensen seems like an egomaniac who deserves what happened to him, there's a part of me that feels some China hawks had fingers in his firing, it must not sit well with them than America's most valuable company is not in the hands of the old guard.

      • KingMob 34 minutes ago
        Musk has 82% of the voting shares of SpaceX, which owns Twitter. He can't be fired, no matter how much he might deserve it.
    • m77 36 minutes ago
      [flagged]
  • kphorn 30 minutes ago
    Jensen has created more shareholder value than nearly any human on earth. Significantly more than Elon, with the key distinction that Jensen has distributed much more of that shareholder value than Elon has through stock options to employees and appreciation of public stock (it’s one of the reasons he’s worth 150Bn vs 1Tn).

    I think the real risk for the economy, the AI industry, and the US is that Nvidia becomes JUST another company. Nvidia losing 50% of its value from its peak means it’s still a $3 trillion company. What if it loses 90%? Then it’s the size of Intel which we generally agree is an important part of the industry.

    Nvidia can afford to invest in companies because the stock is so high and capital is incredibly abundant. Those companies buy Nvidia products at the 50% NET margins. Nvidia gets a ton of cash. Earnings are crazy. But if this cycle stops and efficiency wins in the market (lower margins, more competitors, more options), then Nvidia goes back to where they were which was a Tier-1/2 supplier battling for margin and market share. That is not a $6T company.

    • nemomarx 25 minutes ago
      What's the downside of that for the economy? It seems like it would be the market becoming more efficient, cutting down on margins and so on. Bringing Nvidia back to earth might open up cheaper hardware for other companies to work with and accelerate AI anyway.
      • kphorn 19 minutes ago
        Efficiency is a great thing and long term what’s needed so we can buy laptops again at a reasonable price. There will be a pretty large blast radius across ANT/OAI/ORCL/SPCX/TSMC/neoclouds. Prob 15T of market value at risk and the flywheel of investment which is conditioned on investors and the economy believing they have durable appreciation locked up in AI stocks (“if my basket of investments is safe, I’m willing to invest my next dollar in more of it” vs “the sky is falling and I need to tighten the belt / pull money out”). I’m trying not to be a doomer here as I think it’s somewhere in the middle it’s just very frothy and the upside scenarios generally envisioned NVDA to be stable
      • pizzathyme 12 minutes ago
        It’s not a given that markets are able to navigate the risk between massive capital investment and unknown future revenues. Everyone is trying to figure out the long term value from AI. For a made up numbers example the path might require $1T investment to unlock $10T revenue in 10 years from now. But if no one can put up the $1T it stalls and doesn’t happen next decade
    • qsymmachus 22 minutes ago
      Doesn't this situation demonstrate how bonkers it is to pin the fortunes of the stock market and potentially the entire economy on the behavior of one person?
      • loceng 14 minutes ago
        So what mechanism do you propose?

        Huang has served as CEO for a whopping 33 years - hard to argue he wasn't crucial to NVIDIA's success, and how many of the board members are the original from when he was first chosen-selected and continued to be hired as CEO over the crucial early decades?

        What nuanced knowledge-understanding does he have that no one else can have?

        Maybe sleeping with spies was a necessary part of survival, perhaps if he wasn't prone to that then he'd have been assassinated and potential replacement CEOs who are toeing certain lines may have been attempted to replace him after his murder?

        • qsymmachus 12 minutes ago
          > Maybe sleeping with spies was a necessary part of survival, perhaps if he wasn't prone to that then he'd have been assassinated and potential replacement CEOs who are toeing certain lines may have been attempted to replace him after his murder?

          Respectfully, I don't engage with conspiracy theorists

    • doublepg23 4 minutes ago
      surely the telegraph was the biggest value creator ever?
    • letsgofrets 22 minutes ago
      What on earth are you talking about. The exponential growth in the 1990s, percentage wise, far outpaced the AI bubble. Go look at Intel, Microsoft, lucid, etc from the dot com boom. This is the problem with 20-somethings’ hot takes on the market: no history.
      • WarmWash 5 minutes ago
        The '90's bubble is what the AI "bubble" would be if everyone you spoke to was glowing with excitement about AI, and a few niche analysts were raising concerns about capex.

        Instead this "bubble" is packed with people who detest AI and have extremely bearish views on it's future. If this "bubble" does pop, I think it will be the first one in history that every single person saw coming.

    • bbor 20 minutes ago

        Jensen has created more shareholder value than nearly any human on earth.
      
      A) He never made a single product himself, and B) surely we can see in hindsight that this is a pretty goofy metric for success...? Like, "shareholder value" isn't exactly what we need at this pivotal moment in the terran story.

        I think the real risk for the economy, the AI industry, and the US is that Nvidia becomes JUST another company. 
        ...
        But if this cycle stops and efficiency wins in the market (lower margins, more competitors, more options), then Nvidia goes back to where they were
      
      Even if we accept capital as the most important thing, this seems pretty openly counterintuitive. You're lamenting the spectre of efficiency.
      • AdmiralAsshat 12 minutes ago
        > B) surely we can see in hindsight that this is a pretty goofy metric for success...? Like, "shareholder value" isn't exactly what we need at this pivotal moment in the terran story.

        In the slow evolution of the human race into the Ferengi, it is absolutely a milestone!

      • kphorn 8 minutes ago
        Neither did Elon. What’s the point of A?

        Long term we want efficiency. The market is SUPER inefficient right now. People are buying GPUs and stacking them up in warehouses so that they get their allocation. Companies are taking retired jet engines, and turning them into very expensive generators. SoftBank just defaulted on a bunch of power generation orders (increased cost for everyone, but didn’t create the value). My point is that it will be a painful road to get to the efficient market which will likely be a recession because of a massive slow down in spending

    • joshstrange 9 minutes ago
      This slavish devotion to shareholder value above all else is pretty gross.

      He cheated, multiple times, he is scum for that.

      He seems to have consorted with a spy and evaded export bans. He is a criminal for that.

      Oh, but he made people a lot of money? All good! /s

      Throwing all morals and ethics out the window because of the eCoNoMy is insane.

      The cult of personality around CEOs is unhealthy.

      • kphorn 6 minutes ago
        Both can be true. What if Jensen is a guy who did bad things and Nvidia triggers a recession because it loses its central status on AI?
        • joshstrange 2 minutes ago
          I never said there wouldn't be consequences to the economy. I said it's crazy to put up with such bad behavior to spare the economy.
      • computerex 1 minute ago
        Totally agree. And that's late-stage capitalism for you. For a site named "hacker news" the hacker spirit is noticeably absent here. Instead you have simps for billionaires.
  • twodave 31 minutes ago
    The number of people here who don’t take sexual harassment in the workplace by the CEO of a world-leading company to be a serious, fireable offense—and the fact that so many of you claim to care about things like women’s rights and social justice—is mind-boggling to me. This is a man who could be fired just for OFFERING to have sex with a subordinate. The fact the he did it, and that she got promoted seals his fate as a predator in my mind. But we live in an age where the only truth people believe is the one that makes them feel a certain way, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.
    • timmg 27 minutes ago
      > sexual harassment in the workplace

      I had only heard about a consensual relationship.

      • caminante 17 minutes ago
        Which most company policies allow in some form. Peer-to-peer is straight forward. Supervisor-subordinate (relevant here) is less tolerated. You just have to disclose it and maybe sign a "love contract."

        Parent is oblivious to this and has already made up their mind that these policies don't exist

        > The fact the he did it, and that she got promoted seals his fate as a predator in my mind.

        • threetonesun 9 minutes ago
          I think we can all read between the lines that no such thing existed in this case because he was married.
      • paxy 24 minutes ago
        No such thing as consensual when saying no to the boss could result in getting fired.
        • wasfgwp 13 minutes ago
          If you go that route you can extrapolate to some absurd degree. Basically any relationship with a power imbalance becomes sexual harassment.
          • paxy 5 minutes ago
            Congrats you just figured out divorce laws and alimony from first principles.
        • caminante 16 minutes ago
          How do you reconcile "love contracts" [0]?

          [0] https://www.woodsrogers.com/insights/publications/this-valen...

          • nemomarx 12 minutes ago
            I've never worked at any company that used them or heard about them. Instead we take yearly training saying that even flirting with the idea is a cause for immediate termination.

            Do you have stats on how common these are? Is it more popular in some non US country maybe?

          • komali2 6 minutes ago
            Do you suppose Jensen had a love contract with his subordinate, when the breaking of the news of their extramarital relationship led to a 20% drop in stock and the removal of Jensen as CEO?
        • Janicc 12 minutes ago
          Considering he was fired it's the other way around. This at most only applies to very small companies or to people at the very bottom on the totem pole.
      • nemomarx 13 minutes ago
        If you want to have a consensual relationship with someone you need to guarantee they don't work for you somehow first, really.
        • arecsu 5 minutes ago
          I think the real world is not that black and white, really... There is nuance in those interactions as well.
    • netrap 21 minutes ago
      Not sure about the sexual harassment angle you're pushing... it's about trust isn't it? If you have consensual affairs as a CEO, you are still liable to be fired if it becomes public, that's my opinion anyway.
    • kphorn 25 minutes ago
      In any scenario it’s not appropriate. Among peers, everyone knows about the “special relationship” and it directly attacks any perception of fairness and enables others to justify similar or worse behavior in the org.
    • BeetleB 23 minutes ago
      Let's dispense with the theatrics. Having a relationship with someone in your chain is not even close to sexual harassment. Yes, it can lead to it but generally it doesn't. It's not at all illegal either.

      When I entered the workforce not so long ago most companies didn't even have policies against it. My university didn't make a policy about it until 2012. I know a very happily married couple who got married this way (a little earlier - perhaps around 2006 or 2007). I don't think they'd be happy if I referred to their behavior as "sexual harrasment".

      I think it's a good policy and it's fair they enforce it, but equating it to sexual harassment is nonsense.

    • jmyeet 20 minutes ago
      I'm... not shocked. Politically, HN skews pretty heavily right. Some of them will claim otherwise, putting rainbow flags in bios and such, but here is where the rubber hits the road. I also believe that the affair with the subordinate was the big problem. He can paint himself a victim of a Chinse spy.

      Consider the case of Regina Santos-Aviles [1]. She committed suicide by setting herself on fire and had revealed that she'd been having an affair with her boss.

      The power dynamics here are insane. Huang was the CEO and a billionaire. The legal liability that NVidia has or could have because of this is huge, particularly if they did nothing. Now there are big questions about who knew what when.

      The reporting says somebody say them in a San Jose hotel and was basically hushed with an NDA, and probably a big payment (I'm guessing; I don't know). Was that from NVidia or Huang personally? What NVidia staff, if any, authorized that?

      If the board wants to really clean house they should authorize a thorough external investigation of that and any other possible affairs.

      [1]: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tony-gonzales-aide-affair-texts...

      • enronmusk 8 minutes ago
        > Politically, HN skews pretty heavily right

        If you truly believe this, you're living in a bubble. Economically it might be pro free markets, but socially it's heavily "progressive" -- see any discussions about Omarchy, LGBTQ, Elon, or Trump.

      • wasfgwp 6 minutes ago
        > and a billionaire

        That means he can’t have any affairs with anyone who isn’t a billionaire without it turning into sexual harassment due to the imbalance in power?

        > basically hushed with an NDA, and probably a big payment

        So depending on how big the payment the alleged victim might be pretty happy with the outcome?

        I mean if the board believes that the actions of the CEO resulted in financial damage to the company it’s up to them to investigate and deal with it. I just don’t get the whole morality police angle as long as the affair was between consenting rational adults.

    • Jackson__ 27 minutes ago
      The number of people here who don't think women can consent to sexual relationships is thankfully not quite as high.
    • mliker 4 minutes ago
      Who do you work for? Curious why you're pushing an unproven narrative? In America, we are innocent until proven guilty. Let's not forget that :)
    • igleria 27 minutes ago
      money before principles. Not to be crass but this is the ycombinator forum, not bluesky. do not expect principles before money, this is the absolute opposite of trying to preach to the choir.
    • jatora 19 minutes ago
      > But we live in an age where the only truth people believe is the one that makes them feel a certain way

      The irony is so sweet here.

    • nemomarx 25 minutes ago
      wait who said hn supported social justice and women's rights generally? that's not really been my impression wherever it comes up
    • dyauspitr 19 minutes ago
      The sex is a nothing burger. He would have been fine if they were for instance, latin American and not Chinese.
    • bad_haircut72 23 minutes ago
      That chick could very well be an American spy who did everything she could to get him into bed, you have no idea what the truth is.
  • lvl256 49 minutes ago
    For all his faults, I do feel for Jensen. He built this thing from an absolute scratch. He had a lot of luck on the way, from crypto to CUDA. And who can forget his spat with Jobs all those years ago.
    • ChrisGreenHeur 35 minutes ago
      > "And who can forget his spat with Jobs all those years ago."

      Apparently I am able to, what was that?

      • ndiddy 18 minutes ago
        Apple used nVidia GPUs in most of its computers. Around 2008-2009, nVidia produced a line of faulty GPUs that were used in the Macbook Pro. This led to widespread hardware failures, and was known as "Bumpgate" because the problem was caused by faulty solder bumps inside the GPU chip. nVidia refused to fully reimburse Apple for repairs because it wasn't contractually obligated to do so. In response, Apple switched away entirely from nVidia GPUs.
      • jansan 28 minutes ago
        I don't remember either, but I do remember Linus Torwalds not being entirely satisfied with NVIDIA. That is actually something very hard to forget.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYWzMvlj2RQ

        • gpugreg 9 minutes ago
          Every time I have to reinstall CUDA, I fondly remember this video.
    • ACCount39 46 minutes ago
      Nvidia eventually had a spat with just about any corporation it has ever worked with. Their only partnership that stood the test of time is probably Nintendo.
      • piker 38 minutes ago
        TSMC?
        • fernandotakai 28 minutes ago
          from what i remember, morris chang is a close friend to hueng.

          i wonder what will happen to nvidia's relationship with TMSC now.

    • driverdan 8 minutes ago
      > I do feel for Jensen

      Why? He caused this. He chose to have affairs with a spy and a subordinate. Now he has to deal with the consequences.

    • kphorn 46 minutes ago
      This is undoubtedly the most painful professional moment in his career which has been almost entirely Nvidia.
    • lolcatzlulz 38 minutes ago
      7th richest person in the world. Has multiple side pieces. The horror, the horror.
      • jmathai 30 minutes ago
        Success in some areas of your life does not insulate you from tragedy. The guy still puts his jeans on one leg at a time. Probably very expensive jeans he throws away after one use...but still. The human condition cannot be escaped.

        This includes his family and the family of those involved in the affair. Many lives were turned upside down.

    • bluepeter 40 minutes ago
      He worked at Dennys in Portland for a while, so... He can always lean on that experience if needed.
    • coldpie 33 minutes ago
      He is hoarding dozens of billions of dollars. He does not need your feelings, he needs a wealth tax.
      • lrae 28 minutes ago
        Wrong tree?

        > Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Backs California Billionaire Tax Despite Potential $8B Bill

        > "I don't mind paying taxes. The more you make, the more taxes you pay. I'm okay with that," Huang said

        • lavendermon 11 minutes ago
          Jensen has been one of the few outspoken billionaires for promoting higher taxes on himself. In fact, only he and Buffett come to mind as the members of that category.

          Then again, below is a 2024 article from the NY Times claiming Jensen was taking advantage of loopholes to save $8 billion on taxes. I'm not sure whether playing by the existing rules is a sign that he wants lower taxes at the expense of everyone else, who wouldn't take advantage of loopholes while they exist? Any good accountant would recommend the same. The article:

          https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/05/business/nvidia-jensen-hu...

        • verdverm 13 minutes ago
          Things Jensen has said are now all suspect. Does he really believe this or is it just his day time positioning, in contrast to his nighttime positioning that cost him his job
    • KingMob 33 minutes ago
      > He built this thing from an absolute scratch.

      Pretty sure all those nVidia employees over the years had a bigger hand in building it.

      • stonedivot 28 minutes ago
        Right. I'm sure if you got all of those employees in a room together with no vision and no Jensen, Nvidia as we know it today just pops out, right?
  • mynti 48 minutes ago
    I think this just confirms that he had knowledge of gpus going to China and the board wants to minimize the damage now. His infidelity does not help but I doubt the board would have ousted him for that
    • Traster 20 minutes ago
      I think the point is that whether he did or didn't, there's so much smoke now, that Nvidia is going to be spending the next few years getting drilled by absolutely every law enforcement agency and government. Even if it genuinely turns out that nothing even slightly bad happened, it's quite damaging the amount of scrutiny Nvidia is going to be under for the foreseeable future.
    • gizajob 43 minutes ago
      Everyone on that board will have had knowledge of GPUs going to China. Everyone on on THIS board has knowledge about GPUs going to China. Jeez.
      • everfrustrated 20 minutes ago
        They had some amount of plausible deniability until the "spy" story made the news then they didn't.
      • cogman10 32 minutes ago
        I'm going to suggest that everyone or a lot of people on the board likely knew about the affairs as well. Jensen wasn't exactly hiding it.

        This is a CYA move by the board as all this is becoming public.

      • jazzypants 36 minutes ago
        So, you think that crime is good? What's your point here?
        • gizajob 36 minutes ago
          Yeah it’s great.
  • Taek 49 minutes ago
    I have to imagine that Jensen is under an enormous amount of stress right now. I hope whatever he's going through he's got support. This all seems to be happening way too quickly to be just.

    Like, maybe him stepping down is the right decision. But it feels like a hit job and something that was pushed through, rather than something that was properly considered as what is actually best for the company.

    • trvrprkr 48 minutes ago
      He's the chief architect of this. I hope the ones he's hurt along the way have support.
      • frabjoused 40 minutes ago
        He’s also the chief architect of one of the most influential companies in the world. How many people has he positively affected?
        • cj 37 minutes ago
          He makes overpriced computer chips... he isn't gandhi.
          • loceng 11 minutes ago
            You don't seem to understand how the economy and competitive forces work, nor how hierarchies of competency function and work.

            I suspect you hypocritically have and will continue to benefit from his work that he started as their CEO 33 years ago.

          • mapcars 29 minutes ago
            He is changing the course of history, maybe even more impactful on a global scale than colonial conflict
            • ARandumGuy 14 minutes ago
              I'm dying to know how other tech CEOs rank on your "historical figures ordered by importance" list. Like, do you think Steve Jobs was more or less important then Harriet Tubman?
          • shimman 21 minutes ago
            Really shows you how out of touch the tech world is with humanity and what average people care about.
        • 63stack 34 minutes ago
          And how many has his influential company affected negatively?
        • edent 31 minutes ago
          That isn't the way the world - or most morality systems - work.

          A surgeon who saves a thousand lives doesn't get a pass for the one murder they commit.

          If the person who eventually cures cancer also happens to be a rapist, do you remember their name with awe or pity?

          The sort of Felicific Calculus practiced by the "Effective" Altruists is a tawdry trick designed to excuse despicable behaviour.

        • trvrprkr 35 minutes ago
          > How many people has he positively affected?

          I honestly don't care. It's not a balance sheet to me.

        • calcifer 38 minutes ago
          > How many people has he positively affected?

          What's your definition? People he sold a GPU to at extortionate markups?

        • Topfi 35 minutes ago
          What’s the revenue target I need to hit to get a free pass for sanctions avoidance? What other rules, regulations and laws do you think he should be absolved from considering NVIDIAs quarterly profits?
    • MattDaEskimo 43 minutes ago
      To call it a hit job is absurd. He is smart enough to know his actions could have severe consequences. He took a massive risk on behalf of millions for his own momentary pleasure.

      Not a single inch of empathy for his wife and family, nor the misled investors and staff.

      • 34679 12 minutes ago
        I'll tell you what's absurd: Believing the Chinese government sent a spy to honeypot Huang into providing chips to Chinese companies, while everything about their public policy has been designed to prevent exactly that.

        The Chinese government wants Chinese companies to buy Chinese chips.

        • WinstonSmith84 6 minutes ago
          Indeed it seems absurd, but maybe the Chinese government sent a spy to honeypot Huang into destroying (indirectly) its own company instead - knowing how western culture react to such events.
      • 1dom 9 minutes ago
        I think you're misunderstanding - I think the suggestion of a hit job is because of the timing of all this coming out.

        His affairs have been going on for months or years, so much so that various places knew about it, did nothing to stop it, and didn't leak it.

        I think it's a fair question to ask "why is this all coming out together now?" Nobody seems to know. In the absence of any other explanation, suggesting "hit job" isn't absurd.

        • esseph 4 minutes ago
          [delayed]
    • neilsimp1 46 minutes ago
      He cheated on his wife. More than once. Fuck him, let him be stressed.
      • jfckenfishf 42 minutes ago
        Who says she's didn't know or even if she cares?
        • joshstrange 1 minute ago
          > I was unfaithful to my wife. My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did. I am deeply sorry.

          I don't understand what compels people to make up scenarios to defend people who have come out and said the opposite.

        • bigfishrunning 18 minutes ago
          I think the "formal apology letter" wouldn't have existed if this was some sort of open-relationship situation. In that case, Huang violated an important agreement, and cannot be trusted to not violate other important agreements.
        • trentor 16 minutes ago
          Well you could read the letter he wrote but why when you can just ask empty edgy questions to farm karma.
          • jfckenfishf 9 minutes ago
            Framing a pretty basic question as "edgy" is pretty silly.

            The world as a whole is pretty conservative, people like to project the happily married couple image regardless of reality of the relationship.

            • trentor 6 minutes ago
              it's the empty part that makes it edgy.
      • b112 44 minutes ago
        Ah. So you know their relationship? Whether it's an 'open marriage' or not? Whether the wife cheated first, or not? You're of course, in the know, so you can judge, yes?

        He could have done a wrong thing. Or the affair could have been perfectly fine with his wife. Or the marriage could have been on the rocks for years, and they both agreed to not divorce, with all the drama and media attention, and just live their own lives.

        But you know all this is true, or not true.

        Yes?

        • booty 39 minutes ago
          I agree with your sentiment in general: we should not make assumptions about the parameters of others' relationships.

          But in this case, Huang himself explicitly mentioned the hurt that he caused his family. I don't think it gets much clearer than this.

              I owe my family and all of you an apology.
          
              I was unfaithful to my wife. My actions hurt her and 
              our children. There is no excuse for what I did. I am 
              deeply sorry.
          
              Throughout my life, my family has given me love and 
              support. They deserve my honesty and loyalty. Instead, 
              I let them down and damaged the life we built together. 
              I take full responsibility for what I did and the hurt I 
              caused, and I accept the criticism that comes with it.
          
              To my wife and family: I love you. I know an apology 
              cannot undo what I have done. I hope our family will heal 
              and that, over time, I can earn back your trust.
          
          https://www.cnbc.com/2026/11/08/nvidia-jensen-huang-email-bo...
          • mapcars 27 minutes ago
            We don't know how much of that is "what public expects" in such situation vs what is actually true.

            Even if his wife doesn't care it would be wise to keep this apology style, rather than try to go with cliche "its not as bad as it looks".

          • iammrpayments 23 minutes ago
            This is just some basic PR letter, no one from his family actually cares about corporate theatrics
        • yulaow 40 minutes ago
          He wrote himself a press release saying he was unfaithful and because of his actions he hurt his family... it sounds pretty clear that was not a consensual non-monogamous relationship. https://nvidianews.nvidia.com/news/a-message-to-our-company
        • nemomarx 41 minutes ago
          If it was an open marriage, why would his first statement have been an apology to his wife and family? I don't see any reason to start assuming it was actually fine. In any case the affair becoming public in such a way would still be hurting them - the media attention you're speaking about. Much worse than a divorce, right?
          • win311fwg 37 minutes ago
            Because the public sentiment towards open marriages is even more negative than towards infidelity? One is seen as a mistake that one can atone for, while the other is seen as a rejection of the institution itself in a country that has strong beliefs in it. Still only 65% of Americans support gay marriage, for example. Marriage following strict rules remains deeply important to a lot of people.
            • verdverm 6 minutes ago
              > the institution itself in a country that has strong beliefs in it.

              It could be argued much of that is performative. The most vocal group for this in America voted for someone who is well known to break oaths.

              • win311fwg 4 minutes ago
                Absolutely it is performative. Writing a public "apology" for spending time with another person in their free time is also performative. Nobody actually cares what you do with your life. They aren't thinking about you at all. But when performing, the performance has rules of engagement.
        • notThrowingAway 40 minutes ago
          he wouldn't have publicly apologized if all of that was "perfectly fine" with his wife
        • jkahrs595 39 minutes ago
          Might wanna google the term “affair”
        • throwayay58373 33 minutes ago
          People don't need facts when they just want an excuse to attack someone from the outgroup.
        • thehappypm 33 minutes ago
          He publicly stated he broke his wife’s trust, buddy.
      • nsoam 41 minutes ago
        Yes, I'm completely sure his wife never ever cheated on him, lol
      • slekker 35 minutes ago
        LMAO this guy feeling bad about a billionaire who cheated on his wife. Is he projecting muc
    • Topfi 46 minutes ago
      Actions do have consequences and unlike his family, he made those decisions. They also are affect by them despite never having a choice.
    • sceptic123 6 minutes ago
      The public fall may seem quick but from my read of the timelines this has been ongoing for a lot longer.

      The idea his fall is related to his affair also seems more like an attempt to minimise the fact that NVIDIA have been covertly selling to China when they were not supposed to.

    • WhitneyLand 27 minutes ago
      I think finding humanity in our villains can help us gain perspective so I’d agree on your first point.

      However let’s hold both thoughts at once, this was no hit job. Nvidia was forced to act quickly to mitigate business and legal risks. The eventual fallout they’ll face is still not fully known.

    • worldsavior 39 minutes ago
      There is no support for people like him, CEOs of such big companies, or even any respectful CEO. People would only use him. That's human nature for you.
    • CodeArtisan 40 minutes ago
      It's only the beginning of his problems. Congress hearings and an investor class action lawsuit are being prepared.
    • netrap 45 minutes ago
      Such a bizarre take to me. Yes, it's a quick fall.. but can you really trust him after he's been caught having an affair with a supposed Chinese spy, _and_ potentially another one with an employee? There is zero chance any normal business would keep a CEO after this...
      • zippyman55 42 minutes ago
        If there were a dozen more affairs I would not be surprised.
      • K0balt 43 minutes ago
        Normally this would never come to light, the admin has known about the Chinese agent since 2025, and there is an extremely high probability that they know of any other affair partners as well as what he had for breakfast and how he’s doing with the fiber in his diet.

        If you think that billionaire execs of highly strategic companies don’t have the CIA nonconsentually implanted in their colon you are extremely naive. He misstepped politically.

        I’ve known a lot of execs, and I can probably count the ones that were highly successful and never cheated on their wives on one hand. The temptation comes with the territory, and the opportunities are endless and disarmingly charming. It takes a man of outstanding moral character to be unfailingly perfect under those circumstances, and unfortunately outstanding moral character is often not what gets you into the c-suite. It’s a lot like rockstars in the 70s, actually, but with more boring clothes.

    • hashmap 45 minutes ago
      It is as much of a mistake to anthropomorphize billionaires as it is to anthropomorphize LLMs. People with resources greater than nations are .001% human and the rest is closer to a lovecraftian god. Consider that he can shatter markets or send massive trading companies under simply by having an affair. The empathy is misplaced.
      • mapcars 17 minutes ago
        The mistake is to direct your empathy only one way
      • ExoticPearTree 36 minutes ago
        He actually built something amazing. That is why he should be thanked and left alone, not thrown under the bus.

        So much hate for him, it is sad.

        • amdsn 3 minutes ago
          He jumped in front of that bus himself. If the investigation turns out he was definitely orchestrating defying export controls then it's more like he drove one bus into another. He deserves every bit of embarrassment and ridicule no matter how impressive his business accomplishments were up to now.
        • k12sosse 12 minutes ago
          He quickly threw a small but original market under the bus without hesitation. I'm sure every man, woman, and child without a 5090 is chuckling
    • furyg3 43 minutes ago
      I'm sorry, but a hit job he conducted on himself?

      You can agree or disagree with his position on exporting to China being good/bad for nVidia or the US. But actively working closely with a company (Megaspeed) where, from a thousand miles away, it was clear that their primary goal was to get around and/or bend US export controls... that's a bad idea. Megaspeed was clearly working for the direct benefit of the Chinese government.

      Add onto that having an extramarital affair with the representative of that company? Come on, it's extremely likely she's an agent of China, and if not it's a gigantic business risk.

      Then, on top of that, you have to remember that he's married. A divorce results in half of his shares going to his wife, who would then have a grudge, probably not in the best interests of the comapny.

    • HolyLampshade 44 minutes ago
      I think the external event maybe moved quickly, but I read there was an internal event as well.

      I’m sorry but this shows wildly inappropriate decision making. Say what you will about honeypots (I received specialized “warning” early in my career, but I recognize that is abnormal), but we all are forced through training every single year about how relationships at work, especially with imbalanced power dynamics, are inappropriate and should not take place.

      I don’t care about the infidelity, but he represents the company at its pinnacle. He had to go.

    • uludag 3 minutes ago
      > I have to imagine that Jensen is under an enormous amount of stress right now. I hope whatever he's going through he's got support.

      Jensen, if you are reading this and need support you can try looking into BetterHelp. You can even get 20% off using certain partner links. No one should have to go through the stress of loosing their job from Chineese spies alone and with BetterHelp you're just one click away from your very own personal therapist.

    • ASinclair 48 minutes ago
      Hopefully his wife has support. Jensen gets to reap what he sowed.
    • eqmvii 6 minutes ago
      Sympathy for the guy having multiple affairs, including with a direct report, including with a spy and credible allegations of doing an end-run about valid export controls imposed by his country?

      I have a lot more sympathy for the victims, not the arsonist!

    • kennyadam 46 minutes ago
      I think with personal wealth in the billions he'll be just fine.
      • detourdog 40 minutes ago
        Money is not that helpful when a 40 year old intimate relationship dissolves. Being able to buy things does little for memories that can no longer be shared.
        • Arn_Thor 31 minutes ago
          womp womp. Shoulda thought of that before he went and got himself some strange
    • yokoprime 34 minutes ago
      Just like Jensen built nvidia from scratch, he did build this situation from scratch too.
    • bar8uyr 45 minutes ago
      If only there was something he could have done to not do it
    • catchnear4321 46 minutes ago
      He put out the hit on himself when he stepped out.
    • 233mhz 47 minutes ago
      > I hope whatever he's going through he's got support.

      You don't get to cheat on your wife, company and country and get support lmao, what a strange things to say.

      • gizajob 44 minutes ago
        Which country? The country of Taiwan where he’s from and where all his products are made? Or the USA whose diva in chief has had a fit about selling said chips to the country who produces all the USA’s stuff?

        Some very harsh words being thrown around for Jensen’s very human failings. Try walking in his shoes, or at least having some degree of understanding and empathy.

        • 233mhz 27 minutes ago
          He's a US citizen living in the west coast and the CEO of a company's who's headquarter is also there.

          > Some very harsh words

          Who gives a fuck, every executive is a sociopath, no feelings for parasites

          • gizajob 26 minutes ago
            Jensen doesn’t give off sociopath vibes. He really doesn’t. There’s a big difference between being sociopathic or psychopathic and having one’s ego inflated by overwhelming success. Try seeing what it is next time you’re gazing in the mirror.
            • 233mhz 23 minutes ago
              Who the fuck goes out of his way to lick a CEO's boots on a public forum?
              • gizajob 20 minutes ago
                As I already intimated - it’s only really sociopaths or psychopathic narcissists who trade in such extreme black and white thinking as you seem to be doing. Save the f bombs on the public forum too.
                • 233mhz 19 minutes ago
                  Ok i'll keep that in mind next time I cheat on my wife with two separate women and smuggle restricted hardware to my country's nemesis

                  > the f bombs

                  Are you 8?

        • ceejayoz 37 minutes ago
          > Try walking in his shoes…

          Chances are I could just sell them and live for a year or ten off it.

          https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/17/leather-jacket-worn-by-nvidi...

          Which illustrates the gap between his life's challenges and everyone else's nicely, IMO.

        • tranceylc 40 minutes ago
          Try walking in his shoes? He has an easier life than 99% of people lol. People always quick to jump in to defend the shittiest behaviour, maybe have some empathy for his wife?
          • shimman 11 minutes ago
            Really shows you how much we need to kneecap these CEOs for societal good. The idea that they are hard workers is laughable. Everyone working in retail or a restaurant or in a call center is a harder worker than any executive on the planet.
          • fuussssip 29 minutes ago
            99% is too low. He has an easier life than anyone. There's maybe tens of people who have an even easier life.
            • gizajob 23 minutes ago
              Crazy talk. I’m sitting on a beach in Italy right now. My life couldn’t be easier. The stress and pressure of running a company like Nvidia is off the charts.

              And you’re a bot so as if you’d know.

          • gizajob 38 minutes ago
            Well conversely you’re labelling and attacking what you consider the shittiest behaviour, when you only have a sliver of detail. Try pondering what it’s like to create a $5trillion company leading the 21st century’s biggest boom, and consider what weird and unthought of and irresistible demands that might come with. The guy started in Denny’s.
    • esseph 7 minutes ago
      [delayed]
    • KaiserPro 34 minutes ago
      maybe he shouldn't have been putting his dick in people other than where it was supposed to be?

      I mean yes, he shouldn't be hounded, but if he'd kept it in his pants, he could have avoided all this nastiness.

    • realmanrealmanu 38 minutes ago
      Won’t someone please think of the poor tech CEO
    • BillGaitas 3 minutes ago
      [dead]
  • ddxv 31 minutes ago
    Just a sad state of affairs. Jensen was by far the biggest voice pushing for open weights and keeping the Anthropic / OpenAI doom narrative from getting out of control.

    Now without him there will be a vacuum for the ideologies of Dario / Elon / Sam to fill the void.

    • rapsey 22 minutes ago
      Which is why he got railroaded.
  • igleria 29 minutes ago
    He wanted to have the cake and to eat it at the same time. I've seen CEO's who handled this in a much more orderly way, such as: getting a divorce, then announcing internally to the company that he is getting a divorce, then announcing he has found new love with a certain person at the company and in the same sentence announcing that the certain person effectively no longer answers to him, but to the board or something like that.

    Still icky, but this person still enjoys success as a CEO of their company. Huang not anymore.

  • dewwi 43 minutes ago
    I hope this won't change NVIDIA's refusal to block inference for unsigned and registered open-models in the firmware of modern GPUs. Anthropic and others are pushing hard on this. First the hardware export ban, eventually the software one via hardware-enforced execution controls like IETF hinted at
    • rescbr 7 minutes ago
      Yeah, this is the biggest concern that I have regarding this whole story.
    • sigbottle 14 minutes ago
      Is there a source for this? I googled it and this was claimed to be satire
  • bekman 44 minutes ago
    NVIDIA without Jensen? That’s a huge risk. The company may be bigger than ever but replacing its visionary won't be easy.
    • yokoprime 33 minutes ago
      NVIDIA would be without Jensen some day anyway, and he still owns a lot of stock.
    • mihaaly 36 minutes ago
      Obviously, only him could have great visions about NVIDIA. I am expecting a 'we are going to stagnate, at best, without Jensen' worded admittance now from those poor folks remained in the organisation, with all those visionary thoughts taken away from them so abruptly. CEOs are the one taking the companies forward!
    • bbor 34 minutes ago
      [flagged]
  • binarymax 2 minutes ago
    The apologists in this thread are absolutely shocking. Jensen is a ruthless CEO who clearly lacks moral fiber. Why do we idolize and "feel" for people like this?
  • karimf 46 minutes ago
    I don't understand. Who's driving this change? The board, the administration, or who?

    Given the report that the US gov knew about this for a while, it seems more likely that it's coming from the administration?

    • Arn_Thor 27 minutes ago
      More likely the hardliners/security establishment. Rubio reportedly let Trump know of the affair/spy suspicion earlier this year (April? I don't recall), and he clearly ignored it because he likes Jensen and/or he wanted to get in on the action as Nvidia was making bank selling GPUs to China.

      This breaking just before a meeting with Trump/Xi and just after the midterms show a changing wind in Washington is a hell of a coincidence—or not.

  • skywal_l 51 minutes ago
    My understanding is that NVidia's organisation is very flat and Huang has his fingers in every pie; he's not the hands off type. Moreover there was no succession plan. I get that having an affair with a spy is not great but isn't it risky to replace him now?
    • dreadsword 48 minutes ago
      I'm going to guess the 2nd affair with a direct report who rose quickly through the ranks is from the board's perspective the more egregious of the two failings.

      And: the public only knows what's made it out. Who knows what else has come out in private.

      • ferguess_k 47 minutes ago
        I think that's a nothing-burger but it's enough to force him out. They probably have more cards in the play. Unfortunately we will never know of them.
        • fuussssip 44 minutes ago
          Having sex with a report is a very serious no no. There are very valid questions of one's ability to consent when your boss is also your partner.
        • twodave 40 minutes ago
          Quid pro quo sexual harassment is not a “nothing-burger”.
        • 4ndrewl 43 minutes ago
          You don't think the board of a listed company care about the CEOs bit on the side is being promoted? That's really not a good look for a company to admit that.
          • ferguess_k 32 minutes ago
            It's one thing to happen and another to put that out in the open.

            Officials are corrupted? CEOs sleeping with other women including his subordinates? Snow is white? What's the deal? People at that level are basically playing politics, not laws.

            However, the fact that someone decided to release all those information as PUBLIC, and followed that up with ANOTHER scandal, means that they are determined to get rid of them. As you said, it is indeed serious matter.

            As the Chineses say: "Something weights as light as a quarter of pound if it's left alone, but can weight a thousand tons if put on the scale".

            • verdverm 1 minute ago
              > CEOs sleeping with other women including his subordinates? Snow is white? What's the deal?

              The problem is that you don't think it is a problem. It goes on because there are no consequences.

              Maybe in '29 the Epstein perps will actually be prosecuted

    • manojlds 49 minutes ago
      But the original news was not what sealed the deal, it was the follow up.
    • sevenzero 50 minutes ago
      Nvidia will be just fine
    • ZeroGravitas 40 minutes ago
      I feel like "not having a succession plan" should be a fireable offence on its own.

      Otherwise you end up thinking "should I start an affair with this Chinese spy I've been breaking US laws with? What are they going to do, fire me? They can't, I've got them trapped so I'm untouchable, I can do whatever I want. And if I'm in a helicopter crash then it sucks to be them, I'll not care when I'm dead".

    • jetrink 41 minutes ago
      Imagine having to explain that line of reasoning to Congress in four months. "Yes, Senator, we know our CEO was facilitating chip smuggling to China while in a relationship with a Chinese spy, but we figured that it would just be too risky to replace him at this time."
    • igleria 17 minutes ago
      > Huang has his fingers in every pie; he's not the hands off type

      well, yeah.

    • baggy_trough 46 minutes ago
      "an affair with a spy is not great" rather undersells the situation - there could be criminal liability.
  • __natty__ 11 minutes ago
    From Game of Thrones: - Men without cocks. You wouldn't find me fighting in an army if I had no cock. What's left to fight for? - Gold? - I spent my life around soldiers. What do you think they spend that gold on? - Family. - Not without a cock, you don't. - Maybe it really is all cocks in the end.
  • hexad74 53 minutes ago
    What an incredibly embarrassing downfall.
    • dyauspitr 15 minutes ago
      It’s only embarrassing because of the GPUs that ended up in China.
  • kilroy123 50 minutes ago
    I don't know, I just have a feeling he'll be back. Steve Jobs style.
    • ExoticPearTree 32 minutes ago
      That would be so awesome.
    • sangeeth96 27 minutes ago
      Sure, that Steve Jobs, the guy who had an affair with a Chinese spy and slept with an employee. What an egregious comparison.
    • TechSquidTV 21 minutes ago
      He's going to have a 6 year vacation. putting my bet here on the internet history books.
  • janilowski 3 minutes ago
    Huang has shown catastrophically bad judgement and lied publicly [0]. Many commenters here harbor lots of sympathy for him, I assume out of respect for the technology and company he's built, but that doesn't exonerate him.

    He was sleeping with one of his customers—a huge conflict of interest. That alone is good grounds to get a CEO fired, but it only gets worse! Alice Huang, a Chinese national, was previously working for a CCP propaganda channel network with an impeccable acronym: CCTV. Her company was accused publicly and investigated by the government for suspected smuggling of sanctioned NVIDIA hardware into China. Now we learned he also had an affair with one of his direct reports — another diabolical conflict of interest, which alone could be good reason to oust the CEO and possibly the VP as well.

    It's yet to be determined whether he disclosed secrets to the Chinese spy, or whether he at least privately admitted to the second affair (if not, that's even worse!)

    It's not a single, horrendous mistake anymore but a pattern of disastrously poor judgement. Building an extraordinary company and technology shouldn't mean lack of accountability, and thankfully we found out today that even at the highest level it doesn't.

    [0] https://fortune.com/2026/11/09/nvidia-board-probe-jensen-hua...

  • rowanseymour 15 minutes ago
    Lot of comments here stating with absolute certainty that China wanted Nvidia chips (they've previously ordered Chinese companies to not buy Nvidia chips https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-09-17/china-age...) and that Alice Huang is a CCP spy (zero public evidence of this).
    • eqmvii 13 minutes ago
      > zero public evidence of this

      is a bit of a streach, given the reporting, intel briefings, comments from members of congress after the briefings, etc...

    • verdverm 0 minutes ago
      > zero public evidence of this

      yet it was an open secret among those in the know, both the affairs and the export violations

  • cmiles8 8 minutes ago
    There’s a lot of questions without good answers but what’s clear is this is almost certainly about a lot more than just the CEO cheating on his wife.
  • Sol- 40 minutes ago
    Can't help that it leaves a bad taste in my mouth that the China hawk fraction of the US government and associated entities (i.e. Anthropic) obviously brought the hammer down on Jensen here, even if he arguably brought about his own downfall with the affair.

    I assume leaning on Nvidia to integrate chip verification and tracking to not let any unmonitored compute exist in the world is next, which is also in line with what the leading US labs want.

  • alangibson 40 minutes ago
    The big question for NVIDIA investors is how much of their sales came from skirting export sanctions because you can bet there is an investigation coming.
  • dclavijo 19 minutes ago
    Despite his personal affairs, he brought significant growth and stability to NVIDIA thanks to which we all have access to excellent products so his dismissal does not seem like a wise decision. I wonder if his successor will be able to measure up to him. And what would be the cost for nvidia? It all seems political and every politician has an affair to hide...
  • shaolinspirit 38 minutes ago
    idk how people can symphatize a cheater. he could divorce his wife and continue to do his private affairs but he chose to lie
    • ryzvonusef 11 minutes ago
      eh, there is a rumour that it was one of those 'open' marriages, given that his daughter was seen with him and Alice Huang in a video, implying they were ok with it. (dunno about the second one though, but given the first, the second seems excused as well)

      Nah, this is about the indirect Chinese access to chips, and this whole cheating thing is a cover. He's confessing to a 'lesser' crime to save himself for the real threat of jail.

    • dyauspitr 14 minutes ago
      It’s not the side chicks, it’s the side chips.
  • ThouYS 12 minutes ago
    He'll be back one way or another, Jensen is NVIDIA, and a finance person for sure cannot fill the shoes of an innovator
  • xnx 20 minutes ago
    The specific truths about anything hardly matter when a story becomes this big. The hubbub is too much of a distraction and Jensen was going to get hauled in front of Congress by reps trying to score points with anti-AI constituents.
  • aaraujo002 14 minutes ago
    The board is considering both internal and external candidates. Who has experience in hardware, has led a trillion-dollar company, has deep connections in Asia, and might be available?

    It's possible Tim Cook's phone is ringing right now.

    It would be interesting if the story unfolded with Jensen going to TSMC [1] and Tim Cook taking over NVIDIA.

    [1] https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/tsmc-founder-morris-chang-...

  • jthomas1 28 minutes ago
    This might be due to violations or breach of his duties as the CEO, especially given the nature of who the other party has loyalties too, but nonetheless, its a lesson for us all. Because even if he didn't directly provide any IP, would that party have reasonable access to any IP during the events. Guess only time will tell
  • sys_64738 33 minutes ago
    This will be a disaster for NVDA losing their leader. The company will eventually descend into chaos when the roadmap dries up.
  • ksec 36 minutes ago
    There is a lot of discussions on Export Ban. Does selling to a Singapore Company with Chinese Stakeholders considered illegal under those ban? Does Nvidia have to track every single GPU sold or even resold?

    I was under the impression he sold it to a Singapore company, or even any other companies. What those companies do with those GPU is not his fault.

    This whole thing is just a sad story.

    • ZoneZealot 27 minutes ago
      'Singaporean' company whose former managing director (Chinese national Alice Huang / Huang Le) and owner (through a self-titled company) is the same person he's had an extramarital affair with.

      The same company they've audited the datacentres of, and saw dummy non-running servers within which had been stripped of their GPUs, and were 'fooled' that they were simply yet to be commissioned.

      • ksec 20 minutes ago
        Plenty of companies are started by Chinese Nationals. Including inside US.

        On 2nd point, even Hyperscalers have large stack of GPU sitting idle yet to be commissioned.

      • voganmother42 10 minutes ago
        The investigation was also halted
  • neuwirth 22 minutes ago
    Regardless of the implications, even just as a change for NVIDIA this will be one of the moments we look back on. Keep hands and arms inside the vehicle at all times!
  • codingisfreedom 28 minutes ago
    Completely unrelated, but he was the last CEO I really enjoyed watching speak at conferences.

    Felt like he knew what he was talking about, and spoke with real passion and vision.

    Watching tech keynotes these days feels like the same boring marketing script on repeat.

    I’ll miss that.

  • ghc 44 minutes ago
    The obvious succession choice is Lisa Su, but AMD is now almost a trillion dollar company. I can't imagine her actually jumping ship at this point.
    • gizajob 41 minutes ago
      “Hey Lisa! How’s it going? So ya we just fired your cousin who created our company. We were wondering if we could get on a call with you about replacing him and leaving your rival company? If you could call us back on 1-800-NVDA that would be great.”
    • modzu 41 minutes ago
      i mean if she puts on a leather jacket she looks just like him lol. evidently they are actually related
  • mapcars 30 minutes ago
    So does this pretty much confirms the spy thing? I think it was only an assumption
  • specproc 20 minutes ago
    Jensen's the most pro-open weight guy and calmest on China public figure at that level.

    Musk has done, and continues to do, the most horrific stuff, including things far more questionable from a US security perspective. Altman's reputation is not one of honesty and fair dealing. We've had very clear evidence of Microsoft's leadership being caught in honey-traps by foreign governments. No heads rolled.

    Tin foil hat take: I think Jensen's been sniped.

    • Traster 18 minutes ago
      The difference between Musk and Huang is that Musk has engineered such control of his companies through dual class listings that there really is no one who can fire him. Having said that, people are very openly talking about the fact that Musk is going to spend the next couple of years spending quality time with the US congress explaining in minute detail why he's not a traitor.
  • debrisontrack 37 minutes ago
    I've seen some people speculate whether or not he'll be a prosecuted/arrested. It's difficult to believe, but surely would be the biggest imprisonment that I can remember from recent memory.
  • nickdothutton 29 minutes ago
    Now I'm in danger of sounding like a conspiracy theorist, but I think there are several layers to this current drama. Most of the reporting is very "surface level". I also don't pretend to have the full picture myself, but there are many players and many agendas at play, and those can agendas change over time.
  • worldsavior 40 minutes ago
    Weird move. There is something more to it. My guess is that he spilled some stuff.
  • zahlman 24 minutes ago
    Looks like there are a lot of duplicate threads that will have to get folded together...
  • addisonj 37 minutes ago
    Huh, between the Anthropic IPO, the big shift in political environment, and the change in outlook for tech stocks, this comes at a pretty pivotal moment to see if AI train keeps accelerating at the same pace or if we start to see the end of the bubble.

    I don't want to sound like a Jensen apologist, obviously huge missteps on his part, but he was quite a figure in shaping the last few years broad economic narrative. Good or bad, he was a force in shaping one of the largest investments ever. Does that shift without him? Does it shift really quick?

    I would have preferred a slow fade into the sunset as a opposed to a dramatic exit. Yes, there would have always been a correction, but the bubble bursting explosively vs a more measured, slower correction will have different broader impacts and I just hope this doesn't push more towards the outcome that hurts a lot more.

  • PowerElectronix 18 minutes ago
    I only wish he got ousted for being a liar about where the money was coming from during the crypto boom, or the super anti consumer policies like prohibiting OEMs from having a top of the line series with anything other than nvidia, refusing for years to support standard vrr and pushing for g-sync, artificially nerfing silicon capabilities in consumer grade dies and helping this bubble get bigger and bigger with bad accounting practices.

    The dude is out at the absolute top of the company because he fucked too many women he shouldn't have and in a year people will be missing him when the AI reckoning for hardware manufacturers comes.

    Edit: and hairworks! That fucking shit that tanked performance but was "a game changer" due to PR. Just like the fake frames and slop filter they're pushing now.

  • bad_haircut72 38 minutes ago
    My conspiracy theory is that its American spies who let this go public to pressure him out because Jensen was fighting their agenda of stopping China getting advanced chips. The flow will probably slow for a while, domestic Chinese companies will be forced to adapt, and as a bonus the USA wont even be competitive because they took their best horse out behind the woodshed and shot it to stop someone else from getting a ride. 12 months from now Jensen is gonna be VP of AI hardware at Huaweii or similar, calling it now. Another A+ geopolitical move from an administration that has been in a class of its own right from the beginning. Im a nobody who knows nothing but if I had to bet it would be on this.
  • nickalaso 34 minutes ago
    So, I understand this is getting priced in to some degree, but I just don't see how any of this will change the fundamental core business value of NVIDIA. Even if they have to pay a fine or increased regulatory scrutiny. At this point NVIDIA is more like SHELL(10 years ago maybe/during oil spill scandal) than a tech company. Its going to keep printing money with its chips.

    So, I guess I'll timestamp my prediction that now is a good time to buy NVIDIA stock.

  • lavendermon 22 minutes ago
    What is hard to argue: Jensen did a remarkable job leading his company, especially during the development of CUDA, which required an enormous investment in the 2000s but eventually created an ecosystem that outside developers and companies now help sustain and expand. CUDA is a major reason Nvidia has such a dominant market position and should continue to achieve far into the future, regardless of who is CEO. Nvidia's massive risk and its extraordinary payoff will likely be studied for a long time.

    AI pushed Jensen into the spotlight very quickly and he didn't respond well, but he should go down in history as an extraordinary leader.

  • ucyo 44 minutes ago
    Who of you guys is applying?
  • gotmedium 44 minutes ago
    is today the best day in over a year to buy NVDA? From a long-term perspective, how much was he the one driving innovation, and can they be something like an Apple who overcame founder's reliance?
    • igleria 14 minutes ago
      never catch a falling knife with your hands.
    • modzu 40 minutes ago
      the market is reflecting the risk. youre not smarter than the market
      • avajon 30 minutes ago
        it's not a risk, it's definite nosedive. How the f*cking board selected the replacement? Unbelievable stupidity!
    • TechSquidTV 20 minutes ago
      imo no. not yet. The world moves fast but it can get worse.
  • meowlamoon 27 minutes ago
    The board, made of 10 members, only has 3.94% of Nvidia share in total, out of which 3.58% is owned by Huang.

    Meaning that the 9 people pushing him out add up to own 0.36% of Nvidia share, only 0.36%

    This is betray of shareholder interest. The board doesn't own Nvidia, this is not their business, yet only they can vote. they just want to finish as soon as possible, and you get a mad result.

  • 0c3ca83 11 minutes ago
    I wonder who thought they would make more money with him gone.
  • everfrustrated 22 minutes ago
    Be interesting to see if he ends up hollowing out Nvidia if the talent moves with him to his next venture.

    I suspect the real reason the board fired him is he's been lying to the board. It's not the indiscretion it's the lie that gets you.

    If he was lying about his affairs with staff then maybe he's been lying to the board about following export controls and other things.

  • usrme 51 minutes ago
    What would the severance package be in a situation like this?
    • kphorn 48 minutes ago
      He resigns so he would forfeit much of contractual severance in most cases. A negotiated settlement is likely as part of the resignation and if he’s rehired elsewhere (eg at terafab or tsmc) it will generally terminate ongoing payments, healthcare, access to private aircraft and security.
      • OtherShrezzing 39 minutes ago
        He co-owns ~800mn shares in the company with his wife, so losing severance isn't going to be much of an issue to him.
      • numpad0 22 minutes ago
        oh 6 months or whatever at Terafab then succeeding Musk after he's kicked out would be funny to watch
    • bar8uyr 39 minutes ago
      3 leather jackets
    • chrisweekly 49 minutes ago
      [flagged]
  • MrBuddyCasino 14 minutes ago
    This is insane. This is the best case scenario for China, much better than just getting the chips. They just crippled their biggest competitor. The stock might not crater immediately because of ongoing AI demand, but it will at some point.
  • amelius 18 minutes ago
    Hopefully this will not cause a shift in the way nvidia operates, for example in relation to research and open source.

    I mean, imagine nvidia becoming like Apple, with an AI App Store ... trying to maximize their profits above everything else.

  • ViktorRay 19 minutes ago
    I really hope the NVIDIA GeForce Now service sticks around and doesn't get enshittified.

    It's actually an excellent high quality service and with all the shortages should hopefully continue to get more and more successful. Cloud gaming will continue to become a more important part of gaming.

    Now that Microsoft recently enshittified Xbox Cloud Gaming, we have a situation where GeForce Now is pretty much the only good option left.

    • mapcars 12 minutes ago
      You better hope they keep producing consumer gpus at all
  • rvz 56 minutes ago
    > NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) Board of Directors announced today that Jensen Huang has resigned as President, Chief Executive Officer, and a member of the Board, effective immediately.

    Jensen Huang gone as President, CEO, and a member of the Board of Nvidia, effective immediately.

    The Nvidia coup operation has been completed. It is over.

    • ferguess_k 51 minutes ago
      Who are the insiders that arrange the coup?
      • rvz 46 minutes ago
        Those who were against supporting open weight models and specifically selling Nvidia GPUs into China.

        The AI labs do not want any of that and there is one that certainly has never released an open weight model.

        You can take a good guess on the sort of people that are also associated with that AI lab.

        • ferguess_k 45 minutes ago
          Yeah, that could be the case.
    • rayiner 53 minutes ago
      You say this like it’s a bad thing.
    • cannonpalms 51 minutes ago
      Who is incentivized to mount such a coup, I wonder....? Could it be the nation accused of inserting a spy into his life?
  • qsymmachus 51 minutes ago
    You know the industry has concentrated too much power into too few people when one person's midlife crisis can wipe ~$600 billion in market cap
    • baggachipz 45 minutes ago
      Yeah, just buy a corvette and another leather jacket... sheesh.
  • gigatexal 0 minutes ago
    So … Johnny Siruji the new CEO when?
  • alex43578 8 minutes ago
    How do you have $150B and squander your 30 year position at the head of this company for either of those two affair partners. Wild work.
  • ekojs 40 minutes ago
    > Jensen Huang was fighting hard to hang onto his role with the company he founded, according to several people briefed on the discussions. But an interim plan for the chief financial officer, Colette Kress, to take over Nvidia was well underway yesterday.

    From the NYT live updates.

    Ah well, I'm somewhat seeing parallels to the 2023 OpenAI drama, not sure if this is gonna be how things end quite yet.

  • snowwrestler 18 minutes ago
    It’s crazy how many powerful people are brought down by a seemingly super easy thing: using your conscious mind to decide who to have sex with.

    Through abstinence-only sex ed programs, we ask millions of teenagers in the throes of puberty to do this. But somehow fully adult leaders with everything to lose, can’t.

  • cm2187 16 minutes ago
    Have to stay positive, AMD stock price is up!

    I remember Jensen saying he doesn’t have a contract with TSMC. The whole supply is based on a trusted relationship and handshake deals between the two CEOs. I wonder if that relationship is transferable to his successor.

  • danielmartins 6 minutes ago
    Artificial Intelligence is no match for Natural Stupidity.
  • oldsklgdfth 21 minutes ago
    The affairs are horrible behavior. Going around export restrictions.

    But talk about ruining a legacy before it really took off. I don't really have sympathy. But this guy should have carried around a piece of paper with some short aphorisms to look at everyday to anchor him back to reality.

  • liuliu 50 minutes ago
    At the point, the lesson is to have affairs big and early, so you are invincible to media-coordinated attacks. What a tragedy.

    No, the alternative is not to “not having affairs”. Remember, we don’t need evidence to spin a narrative.

    • hackyhacky 34 minutes ago
      > Remember, we don’t need evidence to spin a narrative.

      Except that we have evidence in this case: he literally admitted to the affair. I don't see any "spin."

      • liuliu 12 minutes ago
        Would anyone bat an eye for “one admitted affair”? It is the “spy, Chinese, export ban, a blonde” caught on. No evidence whatsoever on these. It is the imagination of if you have “two ANT in the kitchen…”
  • karim79 11 minutes ago
    Were he gay this could have probably been avoided. Oh well...
  • ramshanker 28 minutes ago
    Meanwhile, twitter is all up on Elon hiring Jensen as CEO of Terafab!
    • mapcars 11 minutes ago
      I mean its not like Jensen needs to work anymore, but that would be an interesting alliance
  • another_twist 29 minutes ago
    I guess everyone looks at infidelity and goes oh the horror. Thing is these are puritanical views and has no bearing on the companys wider performance. Not to mention the fact we dont really know what was going on with these people's personal lives. Now going around sanctions otoh is a whole different problem. Although tbf, given the clown that is the US president right now, I am not sure the US has the moral high ground to suggest selling to China is a problem or anything. I dont see the point of these sanctions, so I understand if Nvidia found a way of going around the sanctioned pathways.
  • whatever1 47 minutes ago
    Who ordered the hit? This was coordinated. None of the info was new, it was dwelling for years.
  • dangoodmanUT 43 minutes ago
    I’m sure Nvidia will have great leadership to substitute Jensen, but man is this a generational fumble from Jensen.

    The king’s crown tumbles. Stock is already down 10% this morning.

    I wonder if this will be the catalyst for Nvidia losing the lead

  • ferguess_k 48 minutes ago
    I guess no one wants an Emperor, and someone needs to teach the tech lords a lesson after mid-term, let's see how NVIDIA holds up.
  • thibsrn 45 minutes ago
    Those are some world-changing, high impact, most consequential genitals right there. Impressive.
  • isoprophlex 41 minutes ago
    The memeing on r/wallstreetbets is off the chart today. At least we have that...
  • chvid 37 minutes ago
    The American empire cutting off its nose to spite China.
  • listedb 28 minutes ago
    Not surprising at all is it?
  • dbg31415 13 minutes ago
    > NVIDIA’s strength has always come from its people...

    Think they take this stance when it's time to hand out yearly bonuses?

  • ryzvonusef 24 minutes ago
    Elon knocking on his door rn ;p

    Eh, i think he's acting as a heatshield for Nvidia, his affairs are irrelevant, but the Chinese sales could put both Nvidia as a company and him as CEO in jail... this allows them both to pretends it's a 'personal issue' and get away with it.

    That bit with Dwarkesh was very prophetic in hindsight.

  • trolleski 39 minutes ago
    He got tired of winning.
  • htrp 49 minutes ago
    coup brought to you by anthropic?
  • ksec 50 minutes ago
    I believe Jensen is still the largest individual shareholder for Nvidia.

    Waiting to see how market reacts, I am selling my shares.

    Dear Jensen, time to start another company.

    And if you believe in conspiracy theory, I guess anthropic is very happy.

  • thwgrw 31 minutes ago
    a night with venus, a lifetime with mercury
  • thwgrw 31 minutes ago
    always helps to keep it in your pants
  • Implicated 53 minutes ago
    Moving fast, I see.
  • Varelion 36 minutes ago
    I love the stock dive for nvidia. I hope it never stops.
  • JoJacobs7676 33 minutes ago
    He was at the top of the world just last week and now his career is over. Slept with a direct subordinate - who btw rose quickly through the ranks - also slept with a Chinese spy and allegedly sold one of the most precious commodities in modern times illegally to an economic adversary. Hit job or not, he really fucked up.
  • mihaaly 43 minutes ago
    Let this be a learning experience for everyone here: if you ever get the CEO if a US tech giant, then never f** a Chinese spy! (and never circumvent export bans while you are at it)
  • lenerdenator 49 minutes ago
    Someone of incredible wealth and influence suffering negative outcomes for something wrong that they did?

    I'm not familiar with the thing I'm seeing.

    Might call my financial advisor and ask him to buy some shares. They'll be lower, and the board has shown it can actually protect the interests of shareholders.

    • Joel_Mckay 19 minutes ago
      These kinds of fines and CEO drama pass.

      The real question we must ask is if a current $30k consumer GPU that initially sold for $2.7k is just as inflated as the 'AI' holdings revenue predictions.

      The smart money will wait till the legal mess starts, as the dead cat bounce in the panic sell off is probable as people try to buy the dip. ymmv =3

  • ObnoxiousProxy 38 minutes ago
    So when Musk sleeps with anything with 3 adjacent holes it's fine, the one asian nerd screws two women and is ousted imnmediately. Yet people think there's nothing behind this?

    Mind you, when these affairs happened is also literally when he took the company to 5T market cap

    Anyway, Nvidia is screwed.

    • nemomarx 35 minutes ago
      Musk has total control of his boards and still gets sued by shareholders on occasion for stuff. Just because he's impossible to fire doesn't mean it's fine when he does it to anyone though.
  • 1over137 22 minutes ago
    One tech oligarch down, many to go.
  • throwayay58373 44 minutes ago
    The volume of glee in this thread is alarming.
    • fuussssip 38 minutes ago
      There's very little glee? There's lots of "no big deal, why is he fired" and lots of "these are firable offenses", but no glee.
  • jmyeet 39 minutes ago
    The irony isn't lost on me that Jensen Huang suffered consequences for his involvement with mature, consenting adults and a whole bunch of other tech billionaires didn't for their island antics.

    I think the affair with the subordinate was the big problem. That opens up NVidia to a lot of legal exposure.

    The Chinese spy is bizarre because these guys have corporate security and cooperation of the US government. How was this allowed to happen?

    Skirting export bans is an unknown. I honestly don't believe this administration would let anything bad happen there. Jensen Huang is simply too rich and NVidia too big.

    • booty 9 minutes ago
      > The Chinese spy is bizarre because these guys have corporate security and cooperation of the US government. How was this allowed to happen?

      Yeah, this is the most interesting part to me.

      It points to the US government knowing about this, and holding onto it as compromat until the time was right to kick him out. But I don't even have a guess as to why this was viewed as the right time...

    • mcmcmc 24 minutes ago
      > consenting adults

      The affair with his subordinate brings this into question. The power dynamic makes consent extremely iffy. There is a reason it is not allowed.

  • tartuffe78 50 minutes ago
    Guy sleeps with spy

    Conspiracy reaction: Something is going on here... obviously not due to sleeping with a spy...

  • Jamesbeam 1 minute ago
    The reason this is all going so quickly now is because they realised how deep the shit is Jensen put the company in.

    There will be an endless walk of shame for Jensen, because this is the perfect opportunity for the Democrats to fly out of the gate and put the fear of god again into the other billionaire oligarchs.

    There needs to be made an example of what happens to you if you start selling weapons-grade technology to the enemies of the United States for personal profit, and then think you are above the law.

    This is not over for Jensen. And also not over for Nvidia, so the only sane thing to do is get as much distance between the "rogue" director and the company. Same for the White House, let’s see how often we see Jensen and Trump still together.

    They are going to throw him under the bus and say he had the opportunity and the access and the power to do this without anyone else noticing, especially as he was sexually manipulating managers that directly report to him on important corporate issues.

    They will make it look as though it’s all Jensen’s fault because otherwise they stop being a trillion-dollar company.

    It’s a fitting end for Jensen Huang.

    He gets taken down by the holy trifecta of power, money and politics he valued above his own marriage or what this whole mess would do to his kids.

    He even lied in his public apology because he still was confident those affairs would never surface because he truly believes he is smarter than anyone else.

    What a loser.

  • epolanski 51 minutes ago
    Not sure about the people thinking he didn't do much wrong.

    The point is that as CEO of a company you have a fiduciary duty to have the best interest of a company in your actions and behavior.

    Having sex with your workers and chinese spies is obviously not the kind of behavior that reflects that.

    And if companies did not fire their CEOs over such blatant missteps the wrong message would be sent to the whole corporate America.

    It sucks because obviously Nvidia would be nowhere without Jensen, and it's not like he killed someone or committed fraud, but the mistakes have been huge none the less.

    And don't forget that those are the two cases we know about, but when you see 2 ants in your kitchen there's always more.

    And the internal investigation of Nvidia quickly assessed that the issue was bigger and Jensen was more of a liability than an asset.

    • kilroy123 47 minutes ago
      I think he clearly did something wrong. It just doesn't seem that bad in comparison to the current shit our leaders do weekly. We're in an age of morally corrupt leadership across the board in the United States.
    • origini 38 minutes ago
      We don't know anything about his cheating and it shouldn't matter.

      We don't know his relationship with his wife, what their stands on cheating even stands.

      You can argue its an image issue, but thats a problem of the press and marketing and not that he might have cheated.

      His wife is an adult and is for sure not poor, so its not a situation were she has to stay with him.

      I do believe it either has to do with the whole spy story or he did something he really shouldn't have.

      • epolanski 31 minutes ago
        I never mentioned cheating? Not sure why are you bringing it up.

        I said that the missteps was having sex with subordinates and chinese spies.

        Now start connecting the dots with Nvidia being one of the major advocates for relaxing exports to China and selling billions of GPUs to shady Singaporean companies that the chinese spy represented and you understand why the board finds him a liability.

        • coldtea 29 minutes ago
          Even the "chinese spies" is just unsubstantiated 'she's chinese so she should be a spy". She's not even chinese iirc, isn't she singaporean? so it's like suspect by ethnicity.
          • Mashimo 14 minutes ago
            > so it's like suspect by ethnicity.

            Suspect by payment from ... TenCent? AFAIK. Her company got money from Tencent and after every longer meeting with Jensen, someone from Tencent flew in and had a meeting with her. At least that is what I remember hearing.

      • KaiserPro 31 minutes ago
        If, as a CEO, the location and interaction of your penis ever becomes well known, then you are failing as a CEO, outside of a few very specific cases.
    • officeplant 49 minutes ago
      >or committed fraud

      We're just gonna keep shoving the illegal GPU trade with China under the rug I guess.

      • epolanski 30 minutes ago
        Innocent unless proven guilty.

        But yes, the fact that Nvidia advocated for relaxing exports to China and that he sold billions of GPUs to shady Singaporean companies is now obviously under major scrutiny.

    • ungovernableCat 38 minutes ago
      If it was some middle manager who got fired for screwing a subordinate you'd see the typical "don't shit where you eat" comments. My guess is people are upset because their stock is down 20% over the last month because of this drama.

      I think both nvidia AND jensen will be doing quite fine 5 years from now.

    • twodave 47 minutes ago
      I agree. And to the conspiracy theorists: what is more likely? That an impossibly rich guy who thinks he is the center of the universe does something as entitled as this? Or that there is some shadowy coup going on that just checkmated him? Human nature doesn’t need that much encouragement.
    • vinyl7 46 minutes ago
      > committed fraud

      The jury is still out on this, re the circular financing mess with AI

  • DonHopkins 41 minutes ago
    >NVIDIA Announces CEO Transition (nvidia.com)

    One Blue Tsunami, and now all the oligarchs are suddenly turning progressive and transitioning! Trump was right all along. This is exactly what he was trying to warn us about.

    Think of all the mistresses who will now have to accept and adapt to their oligarch lover's new gender -- Jensen has at least two that we know of, but when you see two ants in the kitchen, you know there are a lot more. I can't wait to see the wig Bezos picks out.

  • ahmedketata 32 minutes ago
    [dead]
  • CurbStomper7 38 minutes ago
    [dead]
  • ath3nd 53 minutes ago
    [dead]
  • avajon 37 minutes ago
    If shareholders want to save the company fu-g board of directors should be replaced completely and Jensen back.

    Colette Kress has brain of Marisa Mayer who destroyed Yahoo. A woke clown to lead technology company? No vision, no skills, no understanding of technology.

    • DonHopkins 22 minutes ago
      You and CurbStomper7 sound like angry misogynistic MAGA incel trolls. How'd the midterms go for you?

      https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50467465

      CurbStomper7 27 minutes ago [dead] | parent | context | flag | vouch | favorite | on: NVIDIA Announces CEO Transition

      Nvidia just put a woman in charge. Time to short the stock.

  • proc0 52 minutes ago
    Because he cheated on his wife?? Or what am I missing? If that's the official reason, I don't buy it. I don't think those who can influence this decision give two shits about this type of morality. It's silly on its face. Obviously it's cover for some other agenda. I'm just surprised people buy this silly excuse instead of getting to the bottom of what is really happening.
    • reedf1 47 minutes ago
      That he conspired to smuggle NVIDIA GPUs into China to bypass a US embargo working with the Chinese government via a spy (either willingly or via blackmail). Impropriety adds insult to injury - the board have rightly seen that the market will view it more negatively if he stays than if he leaves.
    • 233mhz 48 minutes ago
      > Because he cheated on his wife??

      And a lot of other shady things around nvidia, half of it we probably will never know about. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1H3xQaf7BFI

      https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-administration-jail-le...

    • piva00 50 minutes ago
      Cheated on his wife with a spy who was using her connection to Jensen to move GPUs into China through Singapore in breach of the export controls.

      The cheating is just a bit of humiliation, the damning part is the knowingly circumvention of export controls.

      • proc0 48 minutes ago
        Oh if he knew all of that, then that's what I'm missing, thanks.
    • qsymmachus 49 minutes ago
      Nvidia bulls are still processing
    • jagermo 48 minutes ago
      the impending investigation regarding the sanctions might have more to do with it, to be honest.
    • knorker 47 minutes ago
      It's only been like a year since the last CEO resigned for viral infidelity.

      And that was only with a subordinate, not a subordinate AND with a foreign spy (alleged). Reports say China got billions in chips imported thanks to this operation.

      Politicians also drop like flies. The only person impervious to consequences has been Trump. None of his supporters care that he's the devil.

    • conartist6 48 minutes ago
      No, it's because he repeatedly lied. 20% of the company's profits were/are coming from selling sanctioned chips to China and he said 0% 0% 0% (in official filings)

      The news made it sound like she was a sophisticated person using him as a simpleton, but if anything he was using her to move his products against sanctions.

    • sixo 52 minutes ago
      ...with an actual spy.
      • dralley 51 minutes ago
        And a subordinate executive. And god knows who else.

        But I imagine the billions of dollars in illicit sales is considered a bigger issue.

      • HatchedLake721 50 minutes ago
        The board should've: "Fire you? We’ve just spent billions of our market cap educating you to be careful with spies. Why would we fire you?"
      • stann 50 minutes ago
        allegedly?
  • logicallee 41 minutes ago
    As per our Law 3, the shortselling companies responsible for this will now be liquidated:

    https://stateofutopia.com/laws/3/law3.html

    I'd like to give some insight into this process. A few days ago, we learned that market disrupters were planning negative news to artificially collapse the AI economy, we investigated it at the time and considered completely outlawing short selling. Here is our investigation: https://grok.com/share/c2hhcmQtMw_e05fb23d-aa67-43e4-a7c1-df...

    As you can see, it was not clear that we should completely eliminate short selling.

    When the character assassination process began against Jensen (who is the Founder of NVidia; he currently owns around 3% of the stock; his stake is worth around $100 billion) we gave our feedback that this is not newsworthy.

    Yesterday, we learned of plans to remove him from his position and passed the law linked above, making this illegal.

    We will now begin the process of liquidating and delisting the short seller companies involved. These are some investment banks.

    We do not consider any of the recent reporting to be newsworthy or material.

    • qsymmachus 32 minutes ago
      What on earth are you talking about
    • striking 34 minutes ago
      I thought he resigned
    • nemomarx 37 minutes ago
      "our" and "we"?
    • DonHopkins 15 minutes ago
      Did you read what Grok told you? You asked whether restricting short selling would help, and it said "No" and explained why. Somehow that became "we uncovered a conspiracy and will liquidate the investment banks."

      And who's "we"? You and Grok? Because Grok said no. You've lost half your government before issuing your first decree.

      You've managed to make MechaHitler the voice of reason in this conversation.

  • saberience 45 minutes ago
    I have to say, this seems like a ridiculous over-reaction on the part of the board.

    I think if you could know the truth, 75% of CEOs in the US probably cheat on their wives. They are not hired to be faithful to their wives, they are hired to increase the stock prices of their companies.

    Like sure, if you're a good Christian, it's not good behavior, but ultimately, it's just having sex with someone. I want the guy to make me money and build a great company, I don't care who he has sex with.

    • twodave 38 minutes ago
      It’s quid pro quo sexual harassment.
    • dyauspitr 37 minutes ago
      They don’t care about some paltry affairs
    • fuussssip 41 minutes ago
      It's not about the sex. It's about the judgement shown in cheating with a Chinese spy and a direct report, specifically. It's the lack of trustworthiness shown by someone who is willing to cheat in their marriage (presumably they are then fine lying to their company). And finally it's about exporting gpus to China illegally.

      This isn't just a case of some extramarital sex.

    • KaiserPro 7 minutes ago
      Cheating in private is up to you.

      Cheating with your direct report leaves you open to blackmail.

      Cheating with your fucking customer leaves you open to a whole bunch more trouble.

    • lastofthemojito 38 minutes ago
      Sure, but what about the relevant accusations?

      Could 75% of CEOs in the US help foreign intelligence assets to evade export controls and not face consequences?

    • e0n 40 minutes ago
      I think the whole "selling chips to a country we have an export ban with" thing might be more of their concern.
  • macinjosh 47 minutes ago
    The only reason Jensen is out is because he doesn't pretend AI is an existential threat like Anthropic and OpenAI do to boost their own valuation/moats and to boost the anti-China sentiment for the administration.
  • ibaikov 53 minutes ago
    I don't like conspiracy theories but this doesn't smell right, something's off
    • OuterVale 39 minutes ago
      I think what he has done is wrong and should be grounds for termination from his position (and possibly more on a legal level – details still unfolding). However, I'm with you on this. I can't place it but it feels like there is something more to this story that hasn't come out yet.

      I don't know why I feel this way. Something just feels off and I can't place it.

      • ibaikov 33 minutes ago
        Yes exactly. I remember news like this break out and the board is like 'we are investigating' but here it was instant and in such a large and important (at least currently) company? Idk, something's off
        • nemomarx 19 minutes ago
          The board didn't stop investigating, he resigned. You could assume he knew the investigation was just creating a paper trail to fire him and he wanted to leave on his own terms first? That's pretty normal in these situations.
    • swolios 40 minutes ago
      great way by China to break the market leader down. even if there were denials or what ever the market has already pressured him to step down. There's no one to replace Jensen The AI war progresses
    • jairuhme 50 minutes ago
      Are you serious? He had an affair not only with a direct report, but with a Chinese spy
      • ibaikov 38 minutes ago
        First, alleged Chinese spy. Second, there are lots of execs in tech who had affairs with their staff and remained. Nvidia is also somewhat special - it is too big and powerful.
    • CodingJeebus 47 minutes ago
      He's lucky to have the right to resign, just about any other exec would be dead to rights for termination with cause for sleeping with a subordinate.
    • jmkni 48 minutes ago
      When everyone was scaremongering last month about how AI was going to “destroy humanity” he was the only one talking sense and calling them out on their bullshit

      This is clearly retaliation for not falling into line

      • macinjosh 41 minutes ago
        Yes, he has failings that deserve to be addressed, but the timing of them coming out and the consequences being enforced are the tell here.

        These things can be handled in many different ways. In this case they are being used to achieve the goal of replacing Jensen because he wouldn't play their doom games.

        • ibaikov 36 minutes ago
          Yeah, maybe. It just seems too quick, I'd thought they'd just place him on leave to investigate, they haven't even confirmed that it was indeed a spy etc.
    • officeplant 51 minutes ago
      It just smells like infidelity gone world wide news, and a little illegal GPU trade with china.
      • shakow 42 minutes ago
        I don't think they would care much about the infidelity, but banging a report and a geopolitical enemy is a pretty bad idea overall. I don't think people would have been so surprised if a LockMart C-suite had been voluntold to resign after having an affair with a KGB-linked Soviet woman. And with a direct report as a cherry on top.
        • ibaikov 31 minutes ago
          Gates had affairs with two Russians, nothing happened. He also had ties to Epstein and Epstein knew about these affairs, so he had huge leverage if needed.

          Google execs had affairs, I think Sergey Brin had an affair with an employee, again nothing happened.

          • shakow 0 minutes ago
            Gates had affairs with Russian prostitutes, and well after the end of the Cold War; not with Soviet IT businesswomen that might have been linked to the KGB.

            And w.r.t. Brin vs. Huang, Rosenberg was a comparatively much lower ranked employee that didn't have a stratospheric carreer.

    • staminade 48 minutes ago
      Sounds like you like them very much.
    • knorker 51 minutes ago
      Right. Because men's genitals have never made them do stupid things and caused consequences to those actions.
    • vrganj 51 minutes ago
      My read is that people in US gov knew about this for a while (cf https://www.nytimes.com/2026/11/10/us/politics/trump-china-t...), but Trump protected him (also note Jensen's ballroom donation in that context!).

      Now, post-midterm, Trump's political power has waned considerably, so the knives came out.

    • freakynit 40 minutes ago
      [dead]
  • kittikitti 32 minutes ago
    Jensen Huang called Israel a "second home" while it was committing genocide against Palestinians. This is just a continuation of a pattern of corruption. I think he resented his own success because these are not honest mistakes. Jensen Huang is the AI Great Gatsby.
  • yanhangyhy 42 minutes ago
    another poor chinese guy. they will never be trusted in the america system.
  • bix6 47 minutes ago
    Nice to see a slimeball get what he deserved for once. Too many people in power get a free pass lately. Inexcusable conduct and no morals. We deserve better from our leaders. Elon and Trump next please.
    • iammrpayments 44 minutes ago
      Why do you care that much about other’s people sex life.
      • mschaef 27 minutes ago
        I can't speak for the OP, but it's not like there's actual separation between the sense of morality an individual uses to make decisions about sex and relationship and the sense of morality an individual uses to make commercial decisions. It's the same person with the same set of values making choices in two separate domains. It's not two different people.

        This will be particularly evident if the GPUs to China aspect turns out to be true in addition to the affair. It's not really a surprise that someone who might view themselves above the vows they took to their life partner might also view themselves above their other legal and moral obligations. (Like, in this case, following export laws.)

        Beyond all that, it's also not unreasonable to expect our leaders to lead by example. The affair with the spy was setting a bad example. The affair with a subordinate was setting a bad example. You're right that a part of that's about sex, but it's equally much about personal judgement, risk exposure, what it means to lead, and the organization you aim to create. So I wouldn't be so quick to diminish it as being solely about "other peoples sex life".

        (Yes, I get that I don't know if they had an open marriage or similar. Even if they did, there's still a lot of this that's reprehensible. And we don't know they did.)

      • bix6 42 minutes ago
        I care about powerful people tainting our culture with their selfish bullshit.

        This man lied to the entire US economy and cheated multiple times. Stop excusing his conduct.

        • swolios 35 minutes ago
          There might be a little delusion to think anyone in the 100m+ bracket of living isn't in some sort of "open" relationship/serious depravity situation. Surely the epstein fiasco would shed some light on this to the plebs

          These people have homes in places not only where prostitution is legal but much worse - and are rarely with their "family".

          • bix6 32 minutes ago
            And I will continue demanding better even in the face of your defeatism and all the downvotes I receive. We can make the world better if we try.
  • franktankbank 46 minutes ago
    Curious if the spy stuff will get swept under the rug. US leadership seems kinda tarded hate to say it.