NVIDIA Loses $2 Trillion as Jensen Huang Exits in Spy Scandal

NVIDIA shareholders have lost nearly $2 trillion since Thursday morning, when co-founder Jensen Huang resigned as president, CEO and board member amid reports of multiple extramarital affairs — including one with a woman alleged to be a Chinese spy. His exit ended a three-decade tenure at the top of the AI industry's premier chip supplier.

The resignation took effect immediately. CFO Colette Kress steps in as interim CEO while the board searches for a permanent successor, according to the company.

The news broke during CNBC's most-watched hours. Squawk on the Street co-host Carl Quintanilla walked TVNewser through the morning, in the outlet's latest "5 Questions For…" interview. (All times Eastern.)

How did the news break on air?

Quintanilla said Squawk Box was interviewing a guest about crypto when the release hit the wires, roughly ten minutes before the top of the hour. Anchors interrupted and rewrote the 9 a.m. lede copy on the spot.

"The vibe on set, I'd say, was focused and urgent — but it wasn't newsroom 'chaos', with producers screaming or anything like that," he said. "We'd been bracing for news. This thing had been building up to a crescendo all week."

Why should viewers care?

Stock ownership is the first answer. "Well, if they own the stock, they've lost nearly $2 trillion. So there's that," Quintanilla said.

Beyond the market, he framed NVIDIA as the company that designs the backbone of artificial intelligence — an industry he said is responsible for nearly half of America's economic growth. NVIDIA funds and supports dozens of other AI builders.

The scandal's stakes could reach further. Quintanilla raised the possibility of "a multi-billion smuggling ring of our most precious technology to the Chinese," and a worst case in which "the government knew about it and looked the other way." His verdict: "It has the potential to be the biggest corporate scandal in decades."

Does NVIDIA hit the global economy?

Not immediately, in his assessment. Most of the company's 2027 business is already booked. If customers walk, rivals — AMD, Broadcom and Google — have made inroads with their own chip designs and can absorb demand. The broader market has stayed stable and is not pricing in an economic collapse. The bigger risk, Quintanilla said, sits with "the Trump Administration's oversight, or lack thereof."

The takeaway: the economic fallout is contained for now; the political fallout is the open question.

What makes the story hard — and riveting — to cover?

The hardest part, Quintanilla said, is "keeping an open mind about what's still to come." He acknowledged the urge to give NVIDIA the benefit of the doubt — the company and Huang were revered, made investors rich and built monumental technology — but added: "business executives are fallible. Governments and politicians are fallible. We need to be prepared for all kinds of outcomes as the layers of this onion get peeled back."

On what grips him most: "How does a guy squander his level of global influence, wealth, and stardom? And for what?" Wall Street analysts have taken to calling Huang "Icarus." Quintanilla's closing line: "I just don't think we've ever seen an Icarus fall from this high an altitude."

With Kress at the helm on an interim basis, the board's succession decision — and whatever the investigations surface next — will define whether this becomes the decade's defining corporate scandal.