Jensen Huang resigns as China slams Nvidia spy claims

China on Thursday, November 12, accused the United States of using spying allegations tied to Nvidia as cover to cut it off from advanced technology. Hours later, Jensen Huang resigned as the chipmaker's chief executive. "China's technological progress is driven by independent innovation and open cooperation. The US side should stop fabricating such 'spy' narratives as a pretext for imposing a technological blockade," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said at a regular briefing, France 24 reported.france24.com

Mao was asked about reports that a woman Huang had an affair with was a Chinese spy. The exchange comes ahead of a meeting next week between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the APEC gathering in Shenzhen.aljazeera.com

Beijing signals it still wants a deal

Mao also tried to calm the tension. She said Beijing was ready to work with Washington "to deliver on the important common understandings reached between the two presidents," according to China's state-run Global Times. Trump and Xi earlier agreed in Busan, South Korea, to ease tariffs and lift some technology restrictions. China's foreign ministry has called the spying claims "entirely groundless, speculative and intended to smear and malign China".globaltimes.cn+1

Huang steps down

Nvidia's board said Huang had resigned as president, CEO and director, effective immediately. Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress will serve as interim chief executive. The New York Times reported that he left after revelations of affairs with an executive who reported to him and with a woman US intelligence agencies concluded was spying for China. That woman is reported to be Alice Huang, a former executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed. Megaspeed said it takes US export-control obligations "extremely seriously".investor.nvidia.com+3

Huang admitted the affair in a November 8 message to staff, and Nvidia's board opened an investigation. The Justice Department has taken over a Commerce Department probe into whether Megaspeed helped Chinese companies get around US restrictions.cfr.org

Export-control stakes

Huang spent years lobbying against limits on advanced chip sales to China. Last year, Trump cleared Nvidia's H200 chips for export there despite objections from China hawks in both parties.france24.com

Beijing's concern is that the scandal could revive tougher measures. Global Times said US lawmakers were pushing to add the Chip Security Act and the AI Overwatch Act to the fiscal 2027 defense bill. The first would require chip tracking, and the second would give Congress more say over export licenses. A Chinese analyst quoted by the paper warned that writing such curbs into law would make them harder to reverse.globaltimes.cn