Nvidia founder Jensen Huang (젠슨 황) resigned amid a private-life controversy, prompting leading figures in the technology, AI and cryptocurrency industries to express regret and defend him. Critics also called the resignation decision rushed. Others voiced concern about how a leadership vacuum at the founder could affect the open-source AI ecosystem.

On Nov. 12, multiple foreign media outlets including The Verge reported that Nvidia announced Huang had stepped down as president, chief executive officer and a board member. Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress (콜레트 크레스) will serve as interim CEO. The board plans to seek a successor from internal and external candidates.

Huang's resignation followed a series of reports about ties to a Chinese businessman suspected of links to Chinese intelligence agencies and allegations of a separate relationship with an Nvidia executive. Huang previously acknowledged in a message to employees that he had been unfaithful to his wife. The Chinese businessman's alleged espionage has not been proven. Nvidia's board also said it had no basis to believe national security or company secrets were compromised, and an independent investigation is under way.

Industry figures questioned whether the resignation was appropriate. Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao (창펑 자오) criticised what he called Nvidia's mistake in forcing Huang to resign. David Heinemeier Hansson (데이비드 하이네마이어 한손) said personal issues should be handled as a board-level disciplinary matter and argued the decision lacked proportionality. OpenClaw developer and OpenAI affiliate Peter Steinberger (피터 스타인버거) said the resignation was rushed.

Epic Games founder and CEO Tim Sweeney (팀 스위니) called the episode "a sad day for Nvidia and developers, the United States, and humanity." He credited Huang with leading innovation from gaming graphics processing units to CUDA and AI supercomputers. Perplexity co-founder and CEO Aravind Srinivas (아라빈드 스리니바스) also thanked Huang for his 33 years of leadership and said he had been generous with his time and advice for founders.

Elon Musk (일론 머스크) said recruiting Huang would be "an honor," and U.S. President Donald Trump (도널드 트럼프) mentioned Tim Cook (팀 쿡) as a possible successor to Huang. Jason Calacanis (제이슨 칼라카니스) said shareholders should decide Huang's future after the investigation results and argued media reports or online public opinion should not substitute for a conclusion. Perplexity's Lex Fridman (렉스 프리드먼) said he was shocked by Huang's resignation and the overheated public reaction around it, and opposed Nvidia's decision.

The controversy also spread to concerns about the impact of Huang's exit on the open-source AI ecosystem. Some developers said Huang had been a key corporate leader supporting open-weight models and raised the possibility of a shift in Nvidia policy. Nvidia launched the Open Secure AI Alliance in July with Microsoft, IBM and Hugging Face, among others, and also joined a letter opposing broad regulation of open weights.

Some figures raised suspicions that OpenAI and Anthropic had coordinated to restrict open-weight models, but evidence supporting the claim has not been confirmed. OpenAI signed the letter supporting open weights, and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei (다리오 아모데이) said his company had never argued for an outright ban of such models. Attention is also focused on the future operating direction of Hugging Face, the open-source AI platform that Nvidia agreed in September to acquire for about $12.9 billion, or about 17.24 trillion won.

Some figures, meanwhile, supported Huang's departure, citing national security concerns. Republican U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (케빈 크레이머) previously criticised what he said was an insufficient internal investigation, raising the risk that Huang could be exposed to blackmail. The episode has been assessed as highlighting tensions between the results of founder-led management, corporate board responsibility and national security issues.

It's a mistake for Nvidia to let Jensen resign.