Timeline of the stunning fall of powerful Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s stunning resignation from the tech company he co-founded in 1993 comes amid investigations by federal authorities and his own board of directors into allegations that he had multiple extramarital affairs, including one with an alleged Chinese spy.

Huang, 63, had become a trusted ally of President Donald Trump and an adviser to the president on AI technology, visiting the White House for events more than a half-dozen times between January 2025 and October 2026. This year, he has traveled with Trump on a state visit to China and joined the president during a state visit to Great Britain.

A timeline pieced together by ABC News indicates that Huang and Chinese businesswoman and alleged spy Alice Huang (no relation) have known each other since at least 2024, and that Trump had been briefed twice over the past year on the relationship by intelligence officials and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

June 7, 2024 — The first known photo of Jensen Huang and Alice Huang emerges of them sitting next to each other at Computex Taipei, the world’s largest AI exhibition.

Jan. 31, 2025 — President Donald Trump meets Jensen Huang for the first time during a meeting at the White House.

May 22, 2025 — Jensen Huang and Alice Huang are captured on video by Taiwanese news outlet TVBS leaving a restaurant together in Taipei.

Fall of 2025 — Trump is briefed on U.S. intelligence that Jensen Huang is having an affair with a woman believed to be working for Chinese intelligence, a U.S. official and sources briefed on the matter told ABC News. The president does not take any action at the time, the official and sources said.

Dec. 8, 2025 – Trump publicly announces a major policy change that would allow Nvidia to sell H200 AI chips to China in exchange for the U.S. receiving a 25% cut on the sales.

March 25, 2026 — Trump appoints Jensen Huang as one of 13 members of the newly established President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

April 28, 2026 — Jensen Huang and his wife of more than 40 years, Lori, are guests at the state visit and state dinner honoring Britain’s King Charles.

Spring 2026 — A classified memo is drafted that warns top administration officials that Jensen Huang has a close relationship with a woman that U.S. intelligence officials believe to be a Chinese spy, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News, confirming reporting in The New York Times. 

May 12, 2026 — Secretary of State Marco Rubio shares intelligence with President Trump on Air Force One showing Jensen Huang is in a relationship with a woman believed to be a Chinese spy, a U.S. official and two sources familiar with the matter have told ABC News. This is the second known time that Trump had been warned about the suspected espionage plot, sources with knowledge of the situation tell ABC News.

Trump’s briefing from Rubio, first reported in The New York Times, came shortly before Huang joined the president on a state visit to China, according to the U.S. official and sources. Huang was initially not listed among the CEOs joining Trump’s China trip, but he joined the president’s entourage in Alaska after news reports noted his absence. Trump later posted on his Truth Social platform that Huang was on Air Force One with him.

Sept. 24, 2026 — Jensen Huang and his wife, Lori, attend a state dinner at the White House hosted by Trump during Chinese Leader Xi Jinping’s state visit to the United States.

Oct. 8, 2026 — Huang attends the “Golden Age of American Innovation” summit at U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C., where Trump honors him with a National Medal for Science and Technology and Innovation.

Oct. 29, 2026 — The New York Times reports that Huang and Alice Huang, an executive at the Singaporean tech company Megaspeed, had a “close relationship.”

Oct. 31, 2026 — The Wall Street Journal reports that intelligence officials in the U.S., Singapore and Taiwan had reason to believe that Alice Huang might be a Chinese spy.

Nov. 8, 2026 — Jensen Huang releases a memo to colleagues acknowledging “I was unfaithful to my wife.” He goes on to say, “I take full responsibility for what I did and the hurt I caused, and I accept the criticism that comes with it.” He also apologizes to his colleagues, the Nvidia board, partners and shareholders, saying, “My responsibility is to serve you and be worthy of your trust. I have fallen short of that responsibility.”

Nvidia’s board of directors announces it is launching an independent investigation into allegations that Huang “has been the target of a foreign intelligence effort.” The board says that while it “has no reason to believe that either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised, the Board’s inquiry will examine all available information.”

Nov. 9, 2026 — Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun tells reporters, “The claim regarding a so-called Chinese spy is completely groundless and pure slander.”

That same day, President Trump tells reporters he has spoken to Jensen Huang on the phone. “He said he had absolutely no idea that the person in question was a spy,” Trump says at a press briefing.

Nov. 10, 2026 — The Republican chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Brian Mast, tells ABC News he’s prepared to subpoena Jensen Huang if he does not respond to a request from several House Republicans for a closed-door briefing on Huang’s relationship with an alleged Chinese spy.

Nov. 11, 2026 — The New York Times reports that Huang allegedly had a second extramarital relationship with an Nvidia executive who reports to him. The Wall Street Journal reports that Nvidia’s Board of Directors is reportedly planning to oust Jensen Huang as the company’s CEO.

Nov. 12, 2026 — Nvidia announces Jensen Huang has resigned as the company’s CEO and that Colette Kress, executive vice president and CFO of Nvidia, has been appointed the company’s interim CEO as the board initiates a search for a permanent replacement for Huang.