Jensen Huang has resigned as CEO of tech giant Nvidia, the company's board says, with chief financial officer Colette Kress appointed interim boss
US lawmakers on Capitol Hill say Huang has agreed to appear before Congress for questioning, according to the BBC's US media partner CBS News
The company's shares have recovered some ground after plummeting more than 13% when US markets opened shortly after news of Huang's resignation
On Sunday, Huang admitted an affair with a woman, who was reportedly from another company and suspected to be a Chinese spy
The New York Times has since reported that Huang had a second affair with an executive at his own company
Huang steered Nvidia to enormous success, and in an extraordinary and strangely old-fashioned tale for a future-looking tech firm, he was ultimately undone by his love life, our technology and AI editor writes
Meanwhile, Beijing has warned the US not to use the spying allegations as a pretext to once again restrict tech sales to China
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Edited by Manish Pandey and Ben Hatton, with technology and AI editor Zoe Kleinman and business reporter Rachel Clun
Rachel Clun
Business reporter
Nvidia has ended another rocky day of trading in the red, closing down more than 4% following the news that its founder Jensen Huang's standing down as CEO.
Shares in Nvidia have been broadly falling since the company’s board announced it was launching an independent investigation into claims Jensen Huang was having an affair with a woman alleged to be a spy for China.
It has lost more than half a trillion dollars in share market value as a result, taking its market capitalisation below $4tn.
Technology analyst Patrick Moorehead tells the BBC the shake-up at Nvidia is more of a "stock shock" affecting governance and the markets, rather than a "business shock" that could affect supply and demand for Nvidia's AI chips.
The real question, Moorhead says, isn't whether Nvidia survives, it's "about how they keep inventing at Jensen Huang's pace".
"They need to bring in an innovator CEO to give a higher confidence to investors and their customers for years three, four, and five," he says.
While President Trump has suggested Apple's Tim Cook as a potential replacement, Moorhead says that Cook "would be a horrible CEO at Nvidia" because he doesn't fit the mould.
Moorhead expects a pretty severe effect on the technology export market, along with further restrictions on bilateral trade or advanced AI capabilities.
"We're going to see a gate shut between the US and China bigger than it is now," he says.
He also suspects that current laws that allow service to Chinese companies out of remote companies will also be tightened.
"That door will be closed in the not-so-distant future," he says.
Dearbail Jordan
Senior business and economics reporter
Jensen Huang’s daughter Madison and son Spencer both work at Nvidia, the firm their dad co-founded in 1993.
A quick glance at the company’s annual report shows that Madison Huang was paid $1.2m (£906,660) last year while Spencer Huang received $1.3m.
The report states that the pay they received was decided in line with Nvidia’s compensation practices, taking into account employees with "comparable qualifications and responsibilities and holding similar positions".
Their salaries were set "without the involvement of Mr Huang".
The annual report also shows that the son of an Nvidia board member, Aarti Shah, works for the company. He was paid $265,000 (£200,000). 
Michelle Fleury
New York business correspondent
With Jensen Huang out as Nvidia CEO, it is worth stepping back and looking at the bigger story. This is about more than one executive or one company.
The suspected spying scandal raises important questions about the relationship between the US and China, the limits of export controls and the growing influence of big technology companies on government policy.
Nvidia has become a central part of that debate. The Trump administration allowed the company to resume some chip sales to China in return for a share of the revenue.
Nvidia agreed to pay the US government 15% of sales of its H20 chips and 25% of sales of its more advanced H200 chips.
The arrangement raises questions about how much influence Nvidia had over the rules governing its own business, and where the interests of a private company end and those of the US government begin.
It also shows the risks of putting a company at the centre of a national strategy. Nvidia is now caught between Washington's security concerns, Beijing's ambitions and the global race to develop Artificial Intelligence.
The wider lesson is that when governments turn private companies into national champions, they also expose them to risks that go well beyond business.
In a statement on Sunday, Nvidia's board said it was launching an "independent investigation" in light of reports that its chief executive, Jensen Huang, had been "the target of a foreign intelligence effort".
It said it had "no reason to believe that either national security or Nvidia secrets were compromised", but said the inquiry would look at all available information.
In a subsequent message to the company, Huang said he supported the investigation and would "cooperate fully". He apologised to his wife, family and the company for the affair, saying: "I love our country and our company."
He also said he was "committed to protecting Nvidia and supporting America's national security".
Donald Trump said the FBI was investigating the affair between Huang and the alleged Chinese spy. The US president told reporters on Monday that he had spoken to Huang, who assured him he had "no idea she was a spy". Trump said: "I really believe him."
US lawmakers on Capitol Hill say Huang has agreed to appear before Congress for questioning, according to the BBC's US media partner CBS News.Rachel Clun
Business reporter
Democrats on key congressional committees have asked the Commerce Department and its secretary Howard Lutnick to keep all records relating to decisions to allow Nvidia to sell its advanced AI chips to Chinese companies.
Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Richard E. Neal and Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden are starting investigations over the way Nvidia was allowed to sell these chips.
According to Neal and Wyden, Nvidia’s advanced H200 chips could be sold to Chinese firms if they were first imported from their manufacturing facility in Taiwan into the US for inspection.
A 25% tariff – a levy that is paid to the federal government – was imposed on those chips, under a section of the Trade Act that Neal and Wyden say is meant to allow the president to act against imports that risk national security.
“Trump’s use of the statute appears to have done the opposite, undermining US national security and putting Americans at risk,” they said.
They have requested, among other things, that the Commerce Department keep all records related to its approval of export licence applications submitted by Nvidia, and all its communications with or about Nvidia and Jensen Huang.
Lily Jamali
North America Technology Correspondent, in Santa Clara
On its face, today is another day here at Nvidia headquarters in Santa Clara, California.
People are still showing up to work; a batch of shuttles has been dropping off employees.
But of course, it is a day unlike any other – the first without Jensen Huang helming the firm.
Outside, where I’m standing, there are a few bunches of flowers laid against the sign at Nvidia's main campus building.
Three security guards have been standing atop stairs to the pathway that leads pedestrians to the building.
The guards have umbrellas protecting them against the beating sun.
There are also, cryptically, a pair of pink Adidas shoes placed by the stairs.
No one knows why, or what the message on them means.
One onlooker joked: "Maybe they have been cleaned out of Jensen’s locker."
US lawmakers on Capitol Hill say that Nvidia co-founder Jensen Huang has agreed to appear before Congress for questioning, according to the BBC's US media partner CBS News.
The move comes after lawmakers threatened to use subpoena powers to force his appearance
John Molenaar, the chairman of the House Select Committee on China, says they are negotiating a date for the appearance, CBS reports.
Molenaar, along with the chairs of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Intelligence Committee, wrote a letter on 4 November asking Huang to appear for a closed-door briefing with all three committees.
The purpose, the letter tells him, is to discuss "security protocols against foreign adversary espionage and your interactions with a publicly reported People's Republic of China (PRC) intelligence asset."
Huang had until Wednesday to respond. Lawmakers say they received his response today, according to CBS.
Florida Representative Brian Mast says that Huang indicated he is willing to appear, adding that his resignation as Nvidia CEO "does change the dynamic" surrounding his potential testimony.
"I think right now our goal is to get him in as soon as possible, so that we have a full understanding of the facts and get to the bottom of the truth of this situation," Moolenaar says.
Huang has said he is committed to supporting America's national security concerns, and the Nvidia board has said it has no reason to believe that either national security or company secrets were compromised, and that it is investigating reports that Huang had a close relationship with an alleged Chinese spy.
Beijing has publicly rejected the spying allegations as a smear. Rachel Clun
Business reporter
Nvidia shares seem to be settling, now hovering around 5% down after the big news earlier that Jensen Huang was stepping down.
The company's share price has seen large drops this week following the revelations about Huang's alleged affairs, but it also experienced falls last week after the Democrats swept to victory in the US midterm elections, sparking concerns of tougher AI regulations among investors.
Tessa Wong
Asia Digital Reporter, Singapore
Days after the Nvidia scandal first broke, the Singapore government has given a statement regarding the suspected Chinese spy Alice Huang and Megaspeed, the Singaporean company she was associated with.
The statement says that Huang was never investigated for espionage.
However, she was investigated last year as part of a probe into several companies including Megaspeed, over potential false declarations in relation to the purchase of computer servers.
Authorities said they took her passport in June 2025 to ensure she could not leave Singapore during the investigations.
In February this year, authorities concluded there was insufficient evidence that Huang had committed offences regarding the potential false declarations.
However, they found she had "provided information which she knew to be inaccurate… to downplay her role in Megaspeed".
Authorities gave her a stern warning and banned her from Singapore. They returned her passport on 26 February, and she left the same day.
Earlier, Megaspeed published a statement saying the company "takes its compliance obligations under US export control laws extremely seriously".
The BBC has approached the company for further comment on the statement from the Singaporean government.
Stephen Yiu, chief investment officer of Blue Whale Growth Fund says it has been "very disappointing" to see Jensen Huang get himself in this position.
Yiu's company are investors in Nvidia. Reacting to news of Huang's departure, he says "shock is the right word".
"It's hard to imagine someone who has been so successful ending up in this saga or scandal", Yiu tells the BBC.
Looking ahead, Yiu has no doubt about Colette Kress's ability as interim leader, calling her "a safe pair of hands". But, he adds, questions remain on whether she will share Huang's vision for the company.
From his perspective, as an investor, Yiu says his company looks "at the future of the company, we don't invest into Jensen Huang". Blue Whale Growth Fund will consider whether Nvidia is a good investment going forward without Huang, he adds.
Dearbail Jordan
Senior business and economics reporter
Tucked inside the announcement of Jensen Huang’s departure and his temporary replacement, is the news that Nvidia has appointed its first-ever chair.
This is a big deal. Part of a company chair’s responsibility is to have oversight of the chief executive. Nvidia has gone without one for more than 30 years.
Huang often lauded the company’s “flat” management structure. “If you want to empower people, you want to make the organisation as flat as possible so that information travels quickly,” he once said.
Huang had dozens of people reporting to him, which may well have sped up the flow of information and decision-making but also resulted in an extraordinary concentration of power in one man’s hands.
Now, Nvidia’s new boss, whoever that ends up being in the long term, will have someone overseeing them – in this case, Harvey Jones, a tech industry veteran who was the former boss of Synopsys, a chip design software maker.
Anuk Weerawardana
Business reporter
Jensen Huang's resignation as CEO didn't just affect Nvidia's share price today but also that of companies that previously benefitted from its hype.
Neocloud companies like CoreWeave and Nebius – essentially companies that rent out data centres to AI developers – dropped roughly 5% and 16% in share value respectively after the US market opened today.
Both companies had previously received large investments from Nvidia and now rent out its hardware to manage AI workloads.
"Nvidia became such a crucial cog in the machine that it has become an investor, financier and ultimately strategic backer of a lot of companies involved in the supply chain," says Ben Barringer, head of technology research at investment platform Quilter Cheviot.
Nvidia is one of the "key mechanisms" that keep the investment cycle moving so any bump in the road could mean ripples across the wider AI ecosystem.
Yet, Barringer tells me there is still a high probability that the chipmaker will continue to support companies that ultimately buy and use its chips in the long-term. Rachel Clun
Business reporter, in New York
Jensen Huang’s resignation and the revelations that led up to it have followed a turbulent period for artificial intelligence and tech firms in general, as investors have in recent weeks reacted to the US midterm elections and massive spending on AI infrastructure.
Stephanie Balaouras, vice president and group research director at market research firm Forrester’s, says Huang’s resignation is "a stress test for the AI boom".
"If Nvidia stabilises quickly under new leadership, the AI infrastructure boom will have demonstrated resilience," she says, adding that if Nvidia’s position remains under pressure it would suggest the AI ecosystem is more fragile.
Eldar Tuvey, is the chief executive of AI procurement platform Vertice. He tells the BBC most of its clients spend money with Nvidia, and one customer has been spending billions.
While he says the turbulence will affect the company and its clients, the bigger picture was that firms would keep spending with Nvidia, Tuvey adds: "I think it will necessarily impact all of us, but I have full confidence in Nvidia to be able to move forward from here."
Jensen Huang's biographer, Stephen Witt, has described news of his resignation as "one of the most incredible downfalls of a corporate executive in recent history".
Witt, who wrote The Thinking Machine, a biography of Huang, tells BBC Newsnight it's "almost impossible" to imagine the company without him, as he's been "the only chief executive this company has ever known".
"This is the age of AI," he says, "but this is a human story. This is a very classic human story of hubris, masculine hubris and overconfidence. Some things never change."
Witt has interviewed the 63-year-old six times and describes him as a "demanding" boss, who "really pushes his people to the limit".
While he says Huang is "very brilliant" and a "world-class computer scientist", there's also "a level of arrogance" and "a level of self-deception as well".Rachel Clun
Business reporter, in New York
Nvidia shares have recovered some ground as investors digest the news of Jensen Huang’s resignation.
Shares initially opened down more than 13% after plummeting in after-hours trading, but by mid-morning in the US they were down about 6%.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index had also recovered slightly, trading down about 0.6%, and the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average were also trading in negative territory.
US President Donald Trump has just weighed in on the debate about Jensen Huang's successor on Truth Social.
He writes: "NOW THAT Nvidia CEO JENSEN HUANG, who has done a fantastic job, has resigned, there is only one man to take his place – TIM COOK of Apple. A Legend replaces a Legend!"
Cook served as Apple's chief executive until August this year, and currently serves as the company's executive chair of the board.
As we've been reporting, finance chief Colette Kress has been named Nvidia's interim chief executive, but it remains unclear who will be appointed to steer the company longer term. 
Bernd Debusmann Jr
White House reporter in Washington DC
Donald Trump presents the National Medal of Science to Jensen Huang on 8 October
The fallout from Jensen Huang's personal life and subsequent resignation puts the Trump administration in an extremely difficult place politically.
President Trump has repeatedly stood by Huang, and earlier this week suggested that Huang might be able to remain in his position.
But beyond the alleged affairs and Huang's resignation, the wider issues that have come to light this week have the potential to reach far into the Oval Office and the uppermost levels of American political power.
Even before Huang's resignation, Democrats on Capitol Hill were accusing the administration of being "too deferential" to Nvidia, and of endangering US national security to sell advanced Nvidia H200 chips to China at Huang's urging.
At the centre of this debate is Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who reportedly clashed with other administration officials – including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent – over the export controls.
Democrats may expect him to come testify before Congress about the matter, which could become a potentially embarrassing moment for the White House.
It's still not clear when exactly Trump was informed of the issue and what he was told, but he is likely to face mounting questions about why Huang was allowed to remain in such close proximity to the administration once he knew.
29 October: The New York Times first reports Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang had a "close relationship" with Alice Huang, who it says US officials allege is a Chinese spy.
8 November: Jensen Huang admits to having an affair and apologises for being unfaithful to his wife, although he does not say who the other person was. Nvidia’s board of directors begins an independent investigation.
9 November: US President Donald Trump says the FBI is investigating. Beijing publicly rejects the spying allegations as a smear.
11 November: The New York Times reports that Jensen Huang had been involved in what it describes as another extramarital relationship, this time with an Nvidia executive who reports to him. Nvidia’s board reportedly holds a meeting to discuss the CEO’s future.
12 November: Jensen Huang resigns as CEO. Colette Kress, the company’s chief financial officer, is appointed interim CEO.Rachel Clun
Business reporter, in New York
Nvidia has been crucial to artificial intelligence development, so the turmoil around its leader has rippled out to affect global AI and tech stocks.
South Korea’s tech and chipmaker-heavy Kospi index closed down 0.6% on Thursday, and the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company was trading down about 1.7%.
Bad news for Nvidia could be good news for some of its competitors, however.
Shares in Chinese manufacturers of graphics processing units rose, with Moore Threads, MetaX and Cambricon all surging by more than 8%. Shares in American chipmaker AMD rose by 4% in early trading.
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