Nvidia has begun its search for a permanent chief executive officer after co-founder Jensen Huang resigned on November 12, ending a 33-year run at the held. The company board has said it would consider candidates from inside and outside the company.

Meanwhile, the chief financial officer Colette Kress has been appointed the interim CEO.

The leadership crisis follows a week of mounting controversy at the chipmaking company, which is a key player in the global AI race. Nvidia faced scrutiny over reports of a possible foreign intelligence operation targeting Huang.

On November 8, Huang acknowledged being unfaithful to his wife in a message to employees. “I was unfaithful to my wife. My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did,” he wrote.  

The statement followed reports of his relationship with Alice Huang, a former executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed International, a company scrutinised by US authorities over suspected assistance to Chinese customers seeking advanced Nvidia chips subject to export restrictions. 

The controversy deepened with reports of another relationship involving Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of healthcare. 

On November 12, Reuters reported, citing two people familiar with the matter, that Huang also had an intimate relationship with another female Nvidia employee, whose identity it did not disclose. 

Nvidia’s board had earlier launched an independent investigation into reports that Huang had been targeted in a foreign intelligence operation. It said it had “no reason to believe that either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised."

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