Reporters exposed Nvidia CEO’s secrets

Even CNBC’s David Faber, who’s seen it all, was gobsmacked by the Nvidia CEO’s resignation from the company he built.

“It is such a stunning downfall in such a short amount of time, it’s almost hard to take it in,” Faber said during the network’s rolling live coverage.

Huang has been one of business TV’s biggest stars and favorite characters for years. And, of course, Nvidia has powered the AI boom and supercharged the US economy. Jim Cramer infamously named his dog Nvidia.

So when the news broke shortly before 9 a.m., a palpable sense of sadness filled CNBC’s air. Joe Kernen likened Huang to Icarus.

The CEO’s hubris and recklessness were exposed the old-fashioned way, through carefully sourced reporting. The New York Times led the way with this story a year ago: “A Mystery C.E.O. and Billions in Sales: Is China Buying Banned Nvidia Chips?”

The article named Alice Huang in the lead. Then, at the end of October, came the stories by the NYT, Wall Street Journal and other outlets revealing that US officials believed she worked as a spy for China. “The facts almost always get worse, and they did,” as Faber said on air this morning.

The NYT published a story about the CEO having an affair with one of his subordinates yesterday afternoon. The WSJ then reported that the Nvidia board was preparing to force him out.

And now he’s out. You can follow CNN’s latest updates here. “​​The AI story is a wild, crazy, shocking story, all the way since the early days, but this may be the most stunning chapter of them all,” Big Technology newsletter author Alex Kantrowitz wrote.

ABC News even broke into regular programming with a special report when the resignation news came in.

During CNN’s live coverage, Hadas Gold pointed out that the announcement didn’t include any quote from Huang. At some point “I’m sure we will hear from him personally about this,” she said, “because he is Nvidia, Nvidia is him; it’s hard to separate the two.”

On X, Fortune editor in chief Alyson Shontell wondered what more will come out: “I can’t believe the board would cave to moral pressure with this much money (and the whole economy! And America’s AI lead!) on the line. Why not put him [on leave until the investigation is complete instead? There has to be more than a second affair triggering it.”