Nvidia Boss Falls, Chip Empire Keeps Its Gears Turning

Nvidia's board of directors announced on Nov 12 that Jensen Huang had resigned as president, CEO and board member with immediate effect, and within hours the machinery was already moving to fill the chair. The board is searching for a replacement and will look inside and outside the company. In the meantime, chief financial officer Colette Kress takes over as interim CEO. A finance executive, minding the till. That tells you what the throne is really for.

Who Has the Power

The fall followed weeks of scandal. Media reports in October alleged Huang had a close relationship with Alice Huang, a Chinese businesswoman and former executive of Singapore-based cloud computing firm Megaspeed International. The two Huangs are not related despite the shared surname. She is reportedly being monitored by US authorities, who suspect she helped China circumvent US export controls on advanced AI chips. The New York Times reported that US intelligence determined she was gathering information for Beijing. Beijing called the allegation "unsubstantiated."

On Nov 8, Nvidia said it was investigating whether Huang was the target of foreign spying. The same day, Huang admitted to employees that he had been unfaithful to his wife and took "full responsibility." On Nov 11, sources told The New York Times he'd also had an extramarital relationship with an executive who reported to him, Kimberly Powell, Nvidia's vice-president of healthcare. A boss sleeping with someone who answers to him. Nobody had to vote on that power imbalance; it came built into the org chart.

President Donald Trump said Monday that the FBI is investigating Huang's affair with an alleged Chinese government agent. He added that he'd spoken with Huang and believes he "had absolutely no idea that the person in question was a spy." One billionaire vouching for another, with the intelligence apparatus circling in the background.

Who Gets Crushed

The people who pay for the decisions made at the top aren't the ones in the headlines. Analysts expect tighter checks on Nvidia chip shipments to Singapore and the rest of South-east Asia, following investigations into regional companies allegedly used to bypass US export controls on China. Su Lian Jye, Omdia chief analyst, said: "You'll probably see a lot more regulatory hurdles, like the need for a lot more approvals and more intergovernmental law enforcement."

Neil Shah of Counterpoint Research said locally registered AI firms, cloud firms and distributors will face "much heavier paperwork and audits." Smaller or newly set up hosting firms take the biggest delays. Firms like Singtel, he said, should benefit. The big get bigger; the small get audited.

Singtel's Bill Chang said the telco has received most of what it ordered, and that even with delays it has a diverse ecosystem of chip suppliers. Group CEO Yuen Kuan Moon said data centre and digital infrastructure make up only 5% of group EBITDA, so "even if there's an impact, it's not going to be significant for Singtel." Gartner's Gaurav Gupta advised businesses to qualify multiple vendors while staying the course on AI infrastructure build-out, since "demand is real and supply chains remain constrained." Even the risk advice reads like a hedge fund memo.

What People Actually Did

In Taiwan, where Huang was born and was feted like a rock star on visits, ordinary people did what ordinary people do: they talked. A video of him with Alice Huang at a Taipei restaurant, filmed in May 2025 with her kissing him on the cheek, went viral. "I thought he had the persona of a devoted husband, and it turns out he's kind of a scumbag," Ivan Liang, 28, told AFP. Leo Fu, a 42-year-old import distributor, said his "nation's dad" image had "probably taken a hit."

Dessert shop owner Jane Hsieh, 70, keeps photos of Huang, his wife Lori and son Spencer in her shop and said she wouldn't remove them: "Why kick someone when they're down?" Jeff Huang, 72, said customers were suggesting he take his photos down and that Huang "instantly fell from grace."

The worry underneath is economic. Nvidia's chips are made by TSMC and have helped drive Taiwan's stocks to record highs and its economy into double-digit growth. Liang said the market crashed days ago and Nvidia's stock "just kept dropping." An island's prosperity, hostage to one man's private life and one company's share price.

The board's statement came one day ago. The search for a successor is open. Whoever gets the chair, the export controls, the audits and the paperwork stay exactly where they are.