Washington: The United States has been rocked by three back-to-back crises in as many days: the resignation of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang amid a spying-linked scandal, a global outage of Microsoft 365, and a nationwide halt in air traffic caused by a technical failure in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) network. The incidents have raised questions about whether a coordinated cyberattack is under way, though officials have so far found no evidence of one. Some analysts have suggested that hostile or rival nations could be involved, and large companies are reportedly growing wary of investing in the US.
Nvidia scandal erases $500 billion
Huang, co-founder and CEO of the AI chip giant, admitted to extramarital relationships with two women, one of them an executive named Alice Huang who is suspected by US intelligence of being a Chinese spy. He subsequently resigned. Nvidia shares fell more than 12 percent, wiping out roughly $500 billion in market value, or about Rs 42 lakh crore.
The Commerce Department initially examined whether US AI chips were illegally diverted to China through Alice Huang, an executive at Singapore-based data center firm Megaspeed. The Department of Justice has since taken over the investigation. Republican members of the House Foreign Affairs and Intelligence committees have asked Nvidia to explain its safeguards against foreign espionage in a closed-door briefing, and the company’s board has ordered an independent inquiry.
Microsoft 365 outage hits 74 countries
On November 13, Microsoft 365 services, including Outlook, Teams and OneDrive, were down for more than 24 hours after a technical fault during a network upgrade. Hospitals, airlines, corporate offices and courts in 74 countries were disrupted. Insured losses are estimated at $300 million to $500 million.
Microsoft has said its preliminary findings point to a glitch in a software update or connectors, not a cyberattack. US cybersecurity agencies reviewed the incident with Microsoft experts. Local governments activated phone lines and backup communication systems to keep emergency services running, and the outage has prompted debate in legislatures over government reliance on a single cloud provider.
Air traffic network failure grounds flights
A day later, the US aviation sector faced its worst crisis since the September 11 attacks. A communication failure in FAA network routers cut contact between pilots and 22 regional air traffic control centers, and officials halted flights nationwide for about four hours. Nearly 10,000 flights were cancelled, with Delta, American Airlines and United Airlines among the worst affected. Thousands of passengers were stranded at airports. Officials said full normalcy could take several more days.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who led the inquiry into possible terrorism or cyber intrusion, said preliminary findings showed no suspicious online activity and no link to the Microsoft outage. FAA engineers are examining how the fault, which began at network routers at Chicago Midway International Airport, spread to the 22 centers. Initial findings point to system overload while new technology was being integrated with the ageing ATC system. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has asked Congress for $50 billion in emergency funds to modernize the country’s outdated aviation infrastructure.