Nvidia’s board of directors met on Wednesday to decide whether to oust Jensen Huang as CEO of the world’s most valuable chip company, according to multiple reports, after a tumultuous week in which the executive and co-founder of the company admitted to having a romantic relationship with a woman who is alleged to be a Chinese spy.
The meeting marks a sharp shift from Sunday, when Nvidia’s board expressed confidence in Huang and his leadership team, and the company’s stock slid more than ۸% in after-hours trading after the Wall Street Journal reported that the company was preparing to fire Huang.
If those losses hold, Nvidia will have lost about $۶۰۰bn in market value since the board announced its investigation into his relationship with a businesswoman called Alice Huang who is accused of being a Chinese spy.
“The market is starting to price Nvidia without its founder as the likely outcome, not a tail risk,” said Armina Rosenberg, portfolio manager and co-founder of Minotaur Capital, which holds Nvidia shares.
Under Nvidia’s bylaws, Huang can be removed “with or without cause” by a majority vote of directors. Nvidia has ۱۱ directors and considers all but Huang independent.
The company earlier this week appointed leading law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to conduct a “thorough and independent” investigation into the relationship. The firm directed Huang to continue to helm Nvidia as the investigation was ongoing.
Late on Wednesday, the New York Times reported that Huang had a separate extramarital affair with a company employee named Kimberly Powell. She was Nvidia’s president of healthcare and was reportedly captured on video being affectionate with Huang at a hotel during a company conference in March.
Huang is seen as the ambitious and visionary leader of Nvidia, a company he co-founded in ۱۹۹۳. His exit would leave a leadership vacuum at a time when the AI arms race between the US and China is at an apex. He has no obvious successor, and personally owns more than ۸۷۰m shares, or about ۳.۶% of the company. Unlike many of his contemporaries at other major tech firms, Huang has dozens of direct reports, an unusual management structure that emphasises his control over the company.
The entire artificial intelligence ecosphere relies on the company, which engineers advanced chips used to train AI models and power companies like OpenAI, Anthropic and Google. It’s also one of the most valuable companies on earth, with a market cap of more than $۴tn. Huang himself is one of the world’s richest people, with an estimated net worth of $۱۴۸bn.
While Huang admitted to having an affair, he denies any knowledge that the woman allegedly worked for the Chinese government. The pair were seen together around the world, dining in restaurants and attending meetings, over the past few years. Alice Huang is a businesswoman and head of Singapore-based cloud computing firm Megaspeed,.
On Thursday a Taiwanese government minister said Alice Huang had visited Taiwan a total of eight times in ۲۰۲۴ and ۲۰۲۵, as he responded to questions about a New York Times report that claimed the US had advised Taiwan as early as ۲۰۲۴ to monitor her movements.
Chiu Chui-cheng, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) minister, said there were “no special flags” about her at the time, Chiu said, adding that “if we had any of the kind of critical intelligence … we would have definitely flagged her for heightened review.”
Jensen Huang, who has been married to his wife, Lori, since ۱۹۸۵, admitted in an email to employees on Sunday that he had an affair and that he would cooperate with an internal investigation. Nvidia’s board of directors put out a statement the same day that the company was launching an investigation regarding reports that Huang was the target of a foreign intelligence effort.
Donald Trump has backed Huang, saying he had done “an incredible job” and is “an honorable guy”. Major tech industry players, including Elon Musk, have also thrown their support behind Huang.
Meanwhile, Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Chris Coons have asked the Trump administration to preserve all documents tied to Nvidia’s chip exports to China, it was revealed late on Wednesday.
“This incident raises significant concerns about the federal government’s ability to effectively enforce our export controls and protect our national security,” the senators said in the letter sent to commerce secretary Howard Lutnick, secretary of state Marco Rubio and White House chief of staff Stephen Miller.
Nvidia did not immediately return request for comment.
With Reuters and Agence France-Presse
