US Official's Memo Sparked Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's Exit: Report

The sequence of events that brought Jensen Huang's 33-year run as chief executive of Nvidia to an end was reportedly set in motion by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to a report in The Washington Post. The newspaper says Rubio sent President Donald Trump a memo flagging Huang's relationship with a woman whom US intelligence officials suspect of being an asset of Chinese intelligence.

The memo was reportedly based on a CIA report, though Rubio is said to have restated its conclusions in more assertive terms. A person familiar with the matter told the Post that the secretary reframed the findings in his own words. The contents of the memo later surfaced in the media, setting off the chain of events that ended Huang's career at the chipmaker. Huang reportedly acknowledged the relationship, and the company's board opened an investigation into possible security risks.

Huang resigned on Thursday after further reports of a relationship, this time with a subordinate at Nvidia. The allegations concerning the woman have not been publicly established. At the G7 meeting in Paris, Rubio declined to answer several questions about his role in alerting the White House.

Huang had maintained close ties with Trump and lobbied strongly for chip sales to China. In December 2025, Trump approved sales of Nvidia's H200 chips to China in exchange for a share of the revenue, a move that many national security officials viewed as a risk. Huang's departure could now strengthen momentum behind three measures in a major defense bill: restricting exports of powerful AI chips, requiring technology to detect chip smuggling, and limiting China's access to chipmaking equipment.

Trump has continued to publicly back Huang, describing him as a "legend" who had "done a fantastic job." According to the report, Huang's difficulties began with accounts of his relationship with a woman suspected of being a Chinese intelligence asset. The episode places new scrutiny on export controls and national security policy in the global semiconductor industry, a sector in which Nvidia remains a central player.