In a newsletter published on November 14th, 2026, The Economist chip-industry expert Shailesh Chitnis reflected on the sudden downfall of Nvidia Corp.
Billionaires behaving badly is hardly news, but the speed of Mr. Huang’s unravelling stands apart. On November 8th, the Nvidia boss confessed to an affair after reports linked him to an executive at Megaspeed, a customer of Nvidia suspected of smuggling chips into China and working for Chinese intelligence.
Three days later came reports of a second affair involving a subordinate. By November 12th, the pressure proved too much, and Mr. Huang resigned, ending a 33-year reign in less than a week. Reports of a third affair have since surfaced.
When Mr. Chitnis interviewed Mr. Huang in June in Taipei, the executive said that he was good at seeing around corners. It would be hard to devise a more thorough act of self-sabotage, and his fall stings all the worse because he sold himself as different from other tech moguls.
During that reporting trip, Mr. Chitnis discovered that the executive is treated in Taiwan less as a billionaire than as a local boy made good. His wife and parents were often at his side, contributing to a wholesome appeal that earned him the local nickname “the People’s Dad.”
Mr. Huang also inspired fierce loyalty inside Nvidia as a famously tough boss known for dressing down senior executives in full view of their colleagues. Staff regarded him as fair because mistakes were called out but not punished, provided they were owned up to promptly.
A long-serving executive explained to the publication that no one at Nvidia is allowed to fail alone. When something goes wrong, it cannot be because only one person knew about it, made a decision, and then went to cover it up.
Mr. Huang apparently held himself to a laxer standard, leaving the employees who spoke with the publication this week sounding deeply disappointed. Before his resignation, one employee insisted that it was still business as usual, reading emails from the boss as though nothing had happened.
Few at Nvidia were ready for what came next, as the company had no public succession plan and its founder had never nominated an heir. Colette Kress, the finance chief now serving as interim boss, could hardly have imagined taking the job a week prior.
For the first time in its history, Nvidia faces a future without Mr. Huang at the helm. That reality presents a cruel irony given what Mr. Huang stated drove him during his interview in Taipei.
Money was never the primary motivator, he explained, pointing instead to his employees and the people he had to bring along with him. That consideration was why he fretted before every big keynote, wanting to be sure he was not the one to screw it up.
He has now managed to do so on a far bigger scale, and the consequences for the company he founded will be momentous. Readers wishing to share their thoughts on the transition can reach the publication at [email protected].
