Jensen Huang has resigned as CEO of technology giant Nvidia following allegations of affairs with a suspected Chinese spy and a senior company executive. The announcement on Thursday triggered a sharp decline in the company’s market value, which fell below $4 trillion for the first time since July 2025.

Nvidia appointed Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President Colette Kress as interim CEO. The company also named Harvey C. Jones as its first-ever board chair. Jones has worked as a venture investor for the past three decades.

Nvidia’s board met on Wednesday night to discuss Huang’s removal after his reported relationship with an alleged Chinese intelligence operative triggered investigations by the FBI, the US Congress and the company. Nvidia is also facing a shareholder class-action lawsuit.

The suspected Chinese spy, Alice Huang, previously worked as an executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed, Nvidia’s primary business partner in Southeast Asia. Founded in 2023, Megaspeed has faced investigations over allegations that it helped Chinese companies gain access to its $4.8 billion stock of advanced Nvidia chips.

The allegations have raised national security concerns in the US, which restricts advanced chip exports to China over fears of the technology being used by military, intelligence agencies or companies.

Huang, 63, cofounded Nvidia in 1993 and served as its president and CEO. A close ally of US President Donald Trump, he has advocated easing American restrictions on chip exports to China. Trump said earlier this week that Huang told him he had “absolutely no idea” that he was in a relationship with an intelligence operative.

Huang has agreed to testify before Congress, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast told reporters on Thursday. Meanwhile, Senate and House Democrats have launched investigations into the Trump administration’s plans to approve AI chip sales to Chinese companies.

Huang owns around 3.6 per cent of Nvidia’s shares, making him one of the world's richest people. The company remains a major force in the AI industry, which has driven record stock market gains and wider economic growth. Nvidia is scheduled to announce its quarterly earnings on Tuesday.

Aleksandar Tomic, associate dean for strategy, innovation, and technology at Boston College, told Al Jazeera that the “resignation of Jensen Huang will have an outsized effect compared to a similar event at another large corporation given the relatively flat structure of Nvidia”.

However, he said Nvidia, an important indicator of the AI industry, remains in a strong position to manage the leadership transition. Tomic described Huang’s resignation as a “speed bump” for the company.

“Nvidia is a strong company with a strong product, and this is a sudden event, not a product of corporate struggle,” he said. “It may take some time to figure out the succession process, but Nvidia can handle it as they approach it from the position of strength.”

The board had hired a law firm to investigate Huang’s alleged relationship with Alice Huang.