US lawmakers summon Nvidia ex-CEO after affair with suspected spy

US lawmakers have called Jensen Huang, an architect of the artificial intelligence boom, to face their questions in December after the Nvidia ex-CEO quit over extramarital affairs, including one with a suspected Chinese spy.

The scandal has wiped almost half a trillion dollars off Nvidia's market valuation, as it raises national security fears and leaves the AI industry in uncharted waters.

"Recent reports raise serious concerns about our national security and the protection of sensitive US technology," Republican Senator Tim Scott wrote Thursday on X.

Scott said he was requesting Huang and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to testify in December before the Senate Banking Committee, which he chairs.

It joins a call for a closed-door interview with the leather-jacketed, 63-year-old Huang on December 1 by three House of Representatives committees, on threat of subpoena.

Huang, who has been married to his wife Lori for over 40 years, admitted Sunday to an affair, reportedly with Alice Huang, a former senior executive at Singapore-based data center company Megaspeed. The two are not related.

US intelligence reportedly circulated a memo this spring alleging she was an asset of China's Ministry of State Security. Beijing has rejected the allegations.

On Wednesday, The New York Times reported a second affair, citing video of Huang being affectionate with Nvidia's vice president of health care, Kimberly Powell.

While Nvidia's board searches for a permanent successor to Huang, who spent 33 years at the helm of the firm he co-founded, chief Financial Officer Colette Kress will serve as interim CEO.

Nvidia hit gold when the launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT in 2022 sparked a global rush to develop AI, with its processors -- once designed for video game graphics -- becoming a crucial ingredient to train and run the technology.

Informal Trump adviser

Nvidia did not give a reason for the departure of Huang, who also gave up his board seat.

Huang is Nvidia's largest individual shareholder, with a stake of about 3.6 percent, according to the company.

The Taiwanese-born businessman was a close informal adviser to President Donald Trump on AI, and had spent years lobbying against curbs on sales of advanced AI chips to China for national security reasons.

Dan Ives of investment bank Yorkville Ives called it "a dark day for Nvidia and the US tech industry".

But he said the board had done what it needed: "rip off the band-aid and take Nvidia into its next chapter without him."

The board named Harvey Jones, a former chief executive of chip design software firm Synopsys, as chair, and said it expected the company's operations and product roadmap "to continue without interruption."

Interim CEO Kress joined Nvidia in 2013 after nearly 25 years at companies including Cisco and Microsoft.

Trump, who had stood by Huang throughout the scandal, said former Apple boss Tim Cook should take over.

"A Legend replaces a Legend!" Trump said on his Truth Social network, adding that Cook had made Apple "one of the great companies of the world at a fairly short range".

Going through hell

Singapore said Thursday it had barred Alice Huang, a Chinese national, from re-entering the country in February for giving investigators inaccurate information about her role at Megaspeed, though she was not investigated for espionage.

Nvidia's board opened a probe on Sunday into reporting that Huang had been the target of a "foreign intelligence effort," while saying it retained confidence in him.

When asked Thursday if Jensen should have stepped down, Trump said it would depend.

"If the woman was a spy, yes. If the woman was not a spy, perhaps it would be different," Trump said in an interview.

But Trump said he was confident that Huang will "end up on his feet," adding: "I spoke to him yesterday. He's going through hell. What he feels most badly about is his wife and family."

At the heart of the spy allegations is the race between the United States and China for supremacy in an industry widely seen as the next industrial revolution.

Key US lawmakers, including Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, called Thursday for answers on what the Trump administration knew about Huang's ties to a suspected Chinese spy, days before Trump travels to China for a summit.

Reports allege the Commerce Department under Secretary Howard Lutnick may have failed to act on suspicions that Megaspeed was helping reroute restricted Nvidia technology to China.

Singapore's home ministry said it had repeatedly sought information from the US Justice Department and FBI on a US server supplier during its Megaspeed probe, but "received limited information or assistance."

On Thursday, Malaysia also said Friday it was investigating a subsidiary of Megaspeed International over the possible diversion of advanced AI chips to other countries.