Jensen Huang’s resignation from Nvidia could complicate billions in philanthropic giving

Just before his departure as Nvidia’s CEO, Jensen Huang was becoming one of America’s greatest philanthropists. with estimated net worth of about $145 billionhe and his wife, Lori, have built one of the largest foundations in the country, with assets of about $9 billion.

But Mr Huang said this week that he had been unfaithful to his wife and acknowledged an affair with a woman who US intelligence has identified as a Chinese spy. The Times then reported that he had another affair with a Nvidia executive who reports to him. Nvidia said Thursday morning that Mr. Huang was stepping down from the company, which he had led for 33 years.

The fate of the foundation, which the couple founded in 2007 and jointly oversee, is unclear.

Ms. Huang is president of the foundation and Mr. Huang is its secretary and chief financial officer, according to the latest tax filing for the charity, which is called the Jen-hsun & Lori Huang Foundation. In 2024, its final tax year, the foundation’s assets nearly tripled, thanks to more than $5 billion in investment gains.

Marital issues have led to major shifts in the world of philanthropy in recent years, such as Melinda French Gates’ departure from a joint charity with her ex-husband Bill and MacKenzie Scott’s rise to one of America’s biggest donors following her divorce from Jeff Bezos.

The Huangs’ foundation is rather low-profile: Despite being one of America’s largest charitable entities, it has no website or roster of public employees.

And the couple has only just begun to give. The Huangs’ largest public donations have gone to institutions of higher education, a relatively safe and conventional place for disbursing large sums of money. They announced a combined $180 million to the four schools, including $75 million in July to establish a college of art and design at Vanderbilt University’s planned campus in San Francisco.

Mr. Huang described his philanthropic giving as an investment, not a charity. “I don’t donate anything” he said in 2010thereby rejecting the premise of the question. “I think of it as investing in the next generation to help us and inspire us to create even better and more useful technologies.”

Their giving also intersected with what’s good for Nvidia. The Huangs’ foundation bought computing time from Coreweave, a key Nvidia partner and customer, and donated $108.3 million of it to universities and other nonprofits, according to Nvidia’s announcement in May.