Jensen Huang has resigned as CEO and board member of Nvidia, the company he co-founded in 1993, after photos surfaced showing the 63-year-old embracing an alleged Chinese intelligence operative in Taipei, Taiwan.
The photos, taken June 2, 2024, show Huang with Alice Huang, 49, said to be an operative tied to China’s Ministry of State Security and a former executive at Singapore-based data center firm Megaspeed International. In the images, Huang places his hands on her hip as she wraps her arm around his shoulders. The pictures were taken shortly after Huang delivered the keynote address at COMPUTEX 2024.
During that speech, Huang said: “I want to speak to you in Chinese, but I have so much to tell you. I have to think too hard to speak Chinese. So I have to speak to you in English.”
Huang, who was born in Taipei, is reported to have begun socializing with Alice Huang in December 2023, with the affair believed to have started in 2024. He is also accused of cheating on his wife, Lori Huang, his college sweetheart, with Nvidia vice president Kimberly Powell and another unnamed Nvidia employee.
The fallout has already cost Nvidia roughly $200 billion in market value this week.
A Gap in Coverage That Could Cost Shareholders
Beyond the personal scandal, Nvidia — a $3.92 trillion chipmaking giant — is now facing scrutiny over a gap in its corporate insurance that could leave the company itself on the hook for legal costs tied to its executives’ conduct.
According to the Financial Times, Nvidia lacks common forms of directors and officers (D&O) liability coverage. That insurance typically comes in three parts: Side A, which covers the personal assets and legal defense of directors and officers; Side B, which reimburses the company for executives’ legal fees; and Side C, which protects the business itself when it is named alongside officers in a lawsuit.
Nvidia reportedly carries only Side A coverage, meaning the company has no protection if it is sued directly alongside Huang.
“For a public company, it’s normal to have Side A and Side B coverage — it’s almost regarded as compulsory. And in the US, most large public companies would have Side C as well, because the exposure is so serious. Everyone gets sued all the time,” Aaron Le Marquer of Stewarts law firm told the Financial Times.
Nvidia is already defending a federal class-action lawsuit filed in California alleging that the company and Huang violated federal securities laws by failing to disclose significant national security and regulatory risks.
Huang’s resignation Thursday leaves the company he led for more than three decades to navigate the legal exposure, shareholder fallout, and reputational damage without the insurance protections most large public companies carry as standard practice.
