Jensen Huang, known for sporting a black leather jacket at shareholder events, seemed to have it all. He was courted by leaders in both Washington and Beijing, adored by investors and seen as a loyal family man. But a rock star approach to his personal life eventually led him to resign. The 63-year-old has been married since 1985, long before the founding of Nvidia, the company that propelled him to technological stardom. He is known as a workaholic and a demanding manager, with high standards for those who worked for him, including his own children, promoted within the company. But he has seen his personal reputation go into free fall this week, shattered by romantic entanglements, which cast doubt on his approach and judgment. On Thursday he resigned after back-to-back revelations of two affairs. News of the first – a relationship with a businesswoman, allegedly a Chinese spy – bounced around the world, causing surprise among investors. On Wednesday it emerged that the tech boss had also had an affair with an Nvidia colleague. His departure creates uncertainty in the global stock market, which was already unbalanced in recent weeks. Nvidia is a lynchpin in the United States’ race for technological leadership with China. Huang may not be a household name on the same level as Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg, but his role in the tech industry, especially in relation to the explosion of artificial intelligence over the past three years, may prove more consequential. Nvidia dominates the market for microchips used to power new technology. The company, which is still valued at nearly $4 trillion despite recent events, is at the center of the AI race between the US and China, the world’s technological and economic powers. Huang enjoyed access to positions of political power on an unparalleled scale, being courted by both US President Donald Trump and Chinese President XI Jinping. His remarkable rise to the top of his profession has seen him dubbed the “Taylor Swift of technology” and seen him amass a fortune estimated at $145 billion (£109 billion), according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Despite always wearing his trademark all-black suits and taking a playful approach to investor presentations, Huang has worked for years to present himself as a family man, someone who exemplified the American dream. Born in Taiwan in 1963, Huang and his family moved to the west coast of the United States when he was nine years old. He graduated with a degree in electrical engineering from Oregon State University and then with a master’s degree in the same field from Stanford University. It was in college where he met his wife, Lori Mills. The couple were lab partners and married in 1985, eight years before Huang founded Nvidia. They have two children, Madison and Spencer, who now work in management positions at their father’s company. Huang first worked at US chip company AMD before co-founding Nvidia. Known as “Daddy Huang” in Taiwan, he is reputed to have incredibly high standards for his staff. The company became a key supplier of computer chips and circuits used for gaming before expanding in a new direction. It now creates the key processing chips used to power growing artificial intelligence technology.
