Good morning, unless you’re Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who almost certainly had his worst weekend in a very long time, if not ever.
“I was unfaithful to my wife,” Huang wrote Sunday in the wake of news reports about his close relationship with an alleged Chinese spy, Alice Huang (no relation), who worked as a top executive at Megaspeed, a Singaporean chip customer. “My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did. I am deeply sorry.”
It’s hard not to wince at this statement. When I profiled Huang for Fortune nearly a decade ago, it became clear to me that he relished being a family man, or at least being seen as one. During the course of my reporting I spent time chopping it up with his wife and two kids at Nvidia’s new HQ, then still under construction; the last mental image I have from that trip is saying goodbye to the four. (Both kids have since become employees of the company.) I’ve written about, and spent time with, many high-flying CEOs for this magazine; Huang remains the only one who’s introduced me—proudly—to his nuclear family.
The Nvidia chief’s personal failings aside, what will come of this uncovered Chinese plot? We don’t yet know. Nvidia’s board wrote in its own statement that neither national security nor trade secrets were compromised, but the duration of the relationship—U.S. intelligence agencies said they monitored it for “more than a year”—raises questions about the alleged spy’s ultimate objective. Meanwhile there’s no question that the optics of it all are profoundly damaging to Nvidia—to its investors, its employees, its partners, its customers, and above all, its starring role in the U.S. campaign to win the global race for AI.
More tech news below. —Andrew Nusca
Thoughts? Suggestions? Hot tip? Drop me a line.
THE BIG STORY
Tesla winds down production of its Cybertruck, once its ‘best product ever’
Elon Musk said Friday Tesla would be phasing out the production of the Cybertruck, the boxy-looking electric pickup he once pitched as the future of his EV maker, “around the middle of next year” in favor of Cybercab production.
The shift comes seven years after Musk introduced the vehicle at a splashy event at Tesla’s design studio in Hawthorne, Calif., complete with pyrotechnics and a live demonstration of the car’s “armor glass” in which Tesla’s lead designer shattered two Cybertruck windows with a steel ball.
“This could be totally wrong. I could be totally out to lunch here, but I think the Tesla Cyber Truck is our best product ever,” Musk said at the time. “That’s my opinion.”
The Cybertruck, which currently starts at a whopping $92,490, has been popular—but it has still struggled to find the mass appeal of other Tesla vehicles like the Model Y and Model 3.
After production delays pushed the vehicle’s launch date to 2023 from a previously promised 2021 launch, production still fell short of the between 250,000 and 500,000 Cybertrucks Musk predicted Tesla would eventually produce annually.
Tesla sold 38,965 Cybertrucks in the U.S. in 2024 and then just 20,237 in 2025, according to estimates by Kelley Blue Book. In the first half of the year, KBB’s parent Cox Automotive also estimated Tesla sold a total of 7,263 Cybertrucks.
Tesla does not break out its Cybertruck sales in its public filings.
Musk has now pivoted the company’s future prospects to the autonomous Cybercab, which he announced to fanfare at an event in 2024. The first Cybercabs hit the street in Austin, Texas in September. Tesla also offers Robotaxi service, via its Model Y, in Houston, Dallas, and Fort Worth as well as in Miami, Orlando, and Tampa.
The shift away from Cybertruck production comes as Tesla seeks to convince investors autonomous technology can drive future growth and surpass traditional EV sales, which have fallen since President Donald Trump ended the EV tax credit last year. Tesla sells the most EVs of any company in the U.S.
The automaker has positioned its Cybercab, a two-seater without a steering wheel or pedals, as key to that vision.
But the new vehicle also faces hurdles. Federal auto safety regulators in September opened an investigation into whether Tesla properly certified that the Cybercab complies with federal vehicle safety standards. At the end of October, Tesla submitted its answers to questions from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, but requested its responses remain sealed because they are “confidential business information.”
Tesla is a late entrant to the autonomous robotaxi market. Alphabet’s Waymo, for example, already operates in 15 U.S. cities and reportedly provides 500,000 rides per week.
The news also leaves existing Cybertruck owners in limbo. Tesla has not said how long it will continue selling remaining inventory or supplying replacement parts, though winding down the vehicle’s production does not mean it will end support for existing vehicles. —Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez
THE BLIND BOX
“Bans don’t make demand for computing power disappear. They move it.”
THE RUNDOWN
—Apple CEO John Ternus reportedly wants harder, better, faster, stronger advancements to Siri AI.
—Stocks will tumble further as AI investment slows next year, then drag down GDP in 2028, an economist predicts.
—Almost two-thirds of 2021’s top 100 altcoins have since lost more than 90% of their value.
—Anthropic inks a $3.4 billion deal with OnePWR to generate gas-fired power for data centers.
—Some Cisco workers are outraged over the company’s myriad deals with Israeli intelligence agencies.
—An Arkansas-Texas lithium formation could help end U.S. dependence on China.
—So the tech billionaires who fled California over a now-failed wealth tax are going to move back, right? (Right?)
—From tired to…hired? U.S. professional services firms added more jobs last month than any other since 2022, despite threats of AI-led annihilation.
THE PARTING SHOT
What do you do after hackers steal more than $6 billion in crypto from your company?
“Pursue a new venture,” at least if you’re the CFO.
(Binance says it was all part of a planned transition; if true, the timing is impeccable.)