After the Fall

AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTDon’t have “personal relationships” with people who work for you. That’s just one of the lessons Jensen Huang learned this week as scandal swallowed him whole and led him to resign yesterday as the chief executive of Nvidia, the chip supernova he co-founded 33 years ago. It’s bad enough to have an affair with a woman the U.S. authorities believe to be a spy for China. Your board will look into that. But if it looks as if you’re also torching company policy to get affectionate with subordinates? You’re done. (The Times cataloged other C.E.O.s who’ve been ousted for having relationships with people on their org charts.)It was, The Times noted, “the stunning fall of one of the most powerful figures in the A.I. boom.” Nvidia controls something like 90 percent of the market for computer chips that power artificial intelligence. Huang’s departure puts that dominance at risk. Shares of Nvidia, the second-biggest publicly-traded company in the world, were down more than 4 percent at yesterday’s market close.Nvidia, which Huang ran almost single-handedly, is an absolutely central player in the artificial intelligence boom. And it’s a linchpin in the contest between the U.S. and China for dominance in the sector. The company doesn’t just develop and sell those chips. It also acts as a kind of bank to finance the data centers that have become a real driver of U.S. economic growth.Now Colette Kress, Nvidia’s chief financial officer, will serve as interim chief executive while the board looks for a permanent replacement. Here are some of the potential candidates. (President Trump, who urged Huang to fight for his job, had an idea about where to pass the torch: to Tim Cook, the former chief executive of Apple. “A Legend replaces a Legend!” he wrote on social media.)ImageCredit...Lazaro Gamio and Amy Schoenfeld Walker/The New York TimesThe aftermathBut remember the woman U.S. officials believe to be a Chinese spy? Her name is Alice Huang, and Washington is still very interested in her relationship with Jensen Huang — no relation — who has lobbied to loosen restrictions on the sale of A.I. chips to China. (This story explains how some Chinese spies use seduction to score intelligence and influence.)In December, Trump gave the company permission to sell one of its older chips there. But some of the Chinese firms that were allowed to buy them have empty offices in China. One led analysts to believe that it may be a front company. Others are tied to companies that are on a U.S. trade blacklist because of national security concerns.Alice Huang’s work has looked fishy for some time. Singapore, where her chip-importing company was based, took away her passport in June 2025 and held it for eight months while it asked the U.S. government for help investigating the firm. It believed she was funneling chips to China. Still, “Singapore has to date received limited information or assistance,” Singaporean officials said in a statement this week. After officials there learned that Trump had been told of the Huang-Huang affair and done nothing, they kicked Alice Huang out in February and told her not to come back.Yesterday, the Republican and Democratic leaders in the Senate both said Congress would want answers about Jensen Huang’s involvement with Alice Huang, even though he has resigned from Nvidia. Huang has already lawyered up, hiring two veteran litigators from Paul Weiss. According to their biographies, the lawyers have previously represented executives in government and internal investigations.ImageCredit...Matthew Abbott for The New York TimesAdventure tourism: It’s not easy to visit the downed plane of Isoroku Yamamoto, the Japanese admiral who masterminded Pearl Harbor. You might want to bring a machete.Huntrix: Bonobos, known for their nonaggressive nature and matriarchal societies, are considered the hippies of the ape world. But new evidence shows that female bonobos are vicious hunters.Muckraking: Boss Tweed used New York as a personal piggy bank. The Times brought him down. We revisit the incredible story for The Times’s 175th anniversary.Your pick: The most clicked link in The Morning yesterday was about Jensen Huang’s wife, Lori Huang.Hired gun: Robert K. Brown, a Special Forces officer in the Vietnam War, founded Soldier of Fortune magazine and developed a following among combat veterans and avowed mercenaries who wanted to fight leftists abroad with guns and gonzo journalism. He died at 93.THE LATEST NEWSPoliticsImageVice President JD VanceCredit...Kenny Holston/The New York TimesTrump said he had pulled Vice President JD Vance off Iran peace negotiations to focus instead on investigating fraud in Democratic-run jurisdictions.Chris Van Hollen, a senator from Maryland, will challenge Chuck Schumer for Senate majority leader, setting up a leadership clash among Democrats.A Congress led by Democrats will vigorously investigate Trump and his allies. 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Credit...Dave Sanders for The New York TimesAfter a frantic search, New York City officials announced that they were ending their rescue efforts in a Brooklyn building collapse that killed eight people. They concluded there were no more victims.Hundreds of firefighters had searched for survivors, even as a downpour left shin-high pools of water near the site.Mayor Zohran Mamdani pledged an investigation, saying he was “incredibly troubled” by reports that construction continued even as inspectors discovered cracks in the building’s facade.This one image captures the devastation.OPINIONSEzra Klein spoke to Hasan Piker about electoral charisma, anti-Zionism and the growing left wing in the Democratic Party.Jensen Huang’s resignation is bad for Nvidia, a tech journalist argues. But it’s good for America.TODAY’S NUMBER16— That is how many hours it takes, round-trip, for a Malawian farmer to bicycle to Mozambique to buy potatoes that he can sell back at home for about an $8 profit. 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Make it tomorrow and see!ON THE HOUSEImageAdam Driver, Roman Engel, Gavin Goudey and Scarlett Johansson in a scene from "Paper Tiger."Credit...NeonIt’s hard to read this rave review of James Gray’s moody new period-piece crime thriller “Paper Tiger” and not want to ditch work and go see the film in a movie theater this afternoon.Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson and Miles Teller star. “His characters are ordinary men and women, not gods and heroes, yet their fates are no less tragic and the very stuff of American myth,” Manohla Dargis writes. I’ll get the popcorn.More on cultureIn France, a lot of funding for culture goes to Paris, leaving rural communities starved for art. Now the Musée d’Orsay has launched a traveling outpost in a tractor-trailer to bring the museum’s treasures to French audiences that feel left behind.Walk into an American store, and there’s a good chance the first thing you hear now is: “Welcome in.” Once you notice, you’ll hear it everywhere.THE MORNING RECOMMENDSImageCredit...The New York TimesAdd these moves to your workout, and see the benefits in your running.Consider these holiday gift ideas from artists, chefs and designers polled by T Magazine. I like the Niwaki folding knife suggested by the fashion designer Zoe Latta.Prepare for Thanksgiving with this excellent primer on throwing an elegant, stress-free dinner party, brought to you by the discriminating maîtres d’hôtel at Wirecutter.Take our news quiz.GAMESRelated ContentAdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT