Jensen Huang’s future rests in the balance as Nvidia board reportedly meet
Nvidia’s board is meeting to decide whether to oust CEO Jensen Huang, a source familiar with the matter told the Reuters news agency, as the world’s dominant supplier of AI processors grapples with reports of two extramarital affairs involving its longtime leader.
The reports mark a sharp escalation in a controversy that began with revelations about Huang’s relationship with Alice Huang, a woman US intelligence has said was involved in facilitating shipments of Nvidia chips to Chinese firms.
In a memo to employees on Sunday, Huang acknowledged being unfaithful to his wife and took “full responsibility,” but gave no details about the relationship.
Huang, 63, has no obvious successor and owns about 3.6% of Nvidia’s stock. He also has dozens of direct reports, underscoring the tight control he maintains over the company.
The company’s shares slid about 8% in after-hours trading after the Wall Street Journal first reported that Nvidia was preparing to oust Huang. Including Wednesday’s after-hours selloff, Nvidia has lost about $600bn in stock market value this week since the board announced its investigation into his relationship with a Chinese businesswoman.
Earlier in the day, the New York Times reported that Huang had also had an extramarital affair with a company executive who reported to him.
Key events
US Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Chris Coons are asking Donald Trump’s administration to preserve all documents tied to Nvidia’s chip exports to China or Jensen Huang’s affair with an alleged Chinese intelligence asset, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has reported.
The request was made in a letter to commerce secretary Howard Lutnick, secretary of state Marco Rubio and White House chief of staff Stephen Miller, the paper reported.
The WSJ reports that Democrat and Republican lawmakers are calling for an investigation into US chip exports and policy decisions involving Huang – while other US lawmaker have already indicated a subpoena could be ahead for Huang.
John Moolenaar, chair of the House select committee on the Chinese Communist party, told Fox Business on Wednesday that there “will likely be subpoenas” for Huang to appear on Capitol Hill if the Nvidia CEO doesn’t respond by day’s end to a request to meet with lawmakers.
Moolenaar, House foreign affairs committee chair Brian Mast and House intelligence committee chair Rick Crawford sent a letter last week to Huang, requesting a closed-door briefing on Nvidia’s security protocols and Huang’s interactions with Alice Huang, the businesswoman accused of spying for China.
Moolenaar told Fox Business that the Republican lawmakers wanted to know if Beijing was able to access “privileged information” and if it was able to influence US national security policy.
“I think transparency is very important for him at this point,” Moolenaar said.
Donald Trump said on Monday he was “amazed” after the revelations concerning Jensen Huang – one of his closest allies in Silicon Valley – came to light. The president’s close ties with the Nvidia CEO have come under renewed scrutiny after revelations about the billionaire executive’s affair with an alleged Chinese spy were revealed.
Trump said on 9 November that Huang had told him he had no idea that the woman was a spy. The president added that he believed the CEO.
I asked him that question ’Did you have any idea that she was a spy?’ He said ’I had no idea that she was a spy’ and I really believe him.”
I know the FBI is looking into it … I think that he’ll be in good shape.”
Over the past two years, Huang has voiced support for the Trump administration’s AI agenda and met the Republican leader many times as Nvidia sought to sell advanced chips to the Chinese market and lobbied for looser restrictions on Chinese access to Nvidia’s sophisticated AI chips.
In May 2026, Huang was among a delegation of tech CEOs who joined Trump during his visit to China to meet Xi Jinping, as the Republican leader urged Beijing to “open up” to US business.
Then in September, as the Trump administration and AI companies faced increasing scrutiny over risks posed by advanced AI, Trump announced that Huang was among a number of tech CEOs who had signed a voluntary safety pact and backed data center expansion.
Trump, who had argued previously that the US does not need new AI-specific regulations, said the pact was “morally binding,” prompting criticism that it was “toothless’” regulation.
In the previous week, Huang had attended a high-profile state dinner for Xi Jinping at the White House, accompanied by his wife.
In early October, Trump awarded the National Medal of Science, the United States’ highest honour for scientists and engineers, to the Nvidia CEO and some other tech industry leaders.
As recently as Tuesday, Nvidia was saying that Jensen Huang would continue to lead the business he co-founded “without interruption”. That statement was made as the company announced it had appointed a leading US law firm to conduct a “thorough and independent” investigation into the relationship between its chief executive, Huang, and an alleged Chinese spy.
The $4.1tn chipmaker’s board has hired New York-based Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz for the investigation, which will be led by the Wachtell partner Joon Kim.
Under Nvidia’s bylaws, Huang can be removed “with or without cause” by a majority vote of directors.
“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.
Losing Jensen would be a real blow.”
Bloomberg reported on Wednesday that Nvidia’s board has been working with an outside firm to identify potential replacements for Huang, citing a person familiar with the situation.
Rosenberg said Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress, who has held the role for more than a decade, would be the natural choice as an interim CEO, but said the bigger question was who would lead Nvidia longer term.
How did we get here?
Reports that Nvidia’s board is weighing Jensen Huang’s future at the company mark a dramatic escalation in events that began last week, when it was revealed that the CEO had been engaged in an affair with an alleged Chinese spy who was involved in facilitating shipments of Nvidia chips to Chinese firms.
The chip mogul is alleged to have had a relationship with Alice Huang, a businesswoman that US intelligence services suspect of spying for the Chinese government.
US intelligence agencies believe Alice Huang, acting on behalf of Beijing, pushed Jensen Huang to lobby Trump for relaxed export controls on Nvidia’s sales in China, which he has done multiple times publicly. Nvidia said in a statement that neither trade secrets nor US national security had been compromised.
The affair and alleged intelligence operation involving Huang could have far reaching implications for Nvidia and the tech industry, which are already enduring a period of high market volatility. Huang’s leadership of Nvidia, which is deeply financially intertwined with other leading tech companies like OpenAI, has long been viewed as crucial to the company’s success and stability.
Huang’s defenders framed his affair as a personal lapse in judgment rather than evidence of treachery against the US, which has imposed strict limits on what chips Nvidia can sell to China.
Huang, who has been married to his wife, Lori, since 1985, 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 a probe regarding reports that Huang was the target of a foreign intelligence effort.
The probe is being overseen by independent directors with outside legal counsel. At the time it was announced, the board expressed confidence in Huang.
Donald Trump has said he had not discussed the allegations with Huang but voiced support for the Nvidia chief, calling him “an honourable guy” who had “done an amazing job for our country.”
Nvidia share price plunges 8% in after-hours trade
Nvidia’s shares plunged in after-hours trading on news that its board may oust longtime CEO Jensen Huang, with the chipmaker losing about $600bn in stock market value this week since the board announced its investigation into his relationship with a Chinese businesswoman.
Shares in Nvidia slid more than 8% after close of trade.
Strategists said investors were still digesting the implications of the midterm elections, which resulted in Democrats taking control of Congress, but also now, the news surrounding Nvidia.
Jensen Huang “was the one who led the marvelous rise of Nvidia,” said Bruce Zaro, managing director at Granite Wealth Management in Plymouth, Massachusetts. “I guess the question would be, can someone step up if Jensen has to resign or is forced out?“
“It looks bad from every single angle,” said Jake Dollarhide, chief executive officer at Longbow Asset Management in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
“I believe the board won’t oust him until they have an all-star, a known entity in the tech sector, to replace him,” said Jake Dollarhide, chief executive officer at Longbow Asset Management in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
At the end of the day, let’s not forget that the Nvidia chip is the centrepiece of the AI story.“
Analysts have suggested that with no obvious successor, the Nvidia board has a difficult decision to make on whether to remove Jensen Huang as CEO.
“Huang being removed immediately could be challenging for Nvidia since it does not have a succession plan in place,” Gil Luria, head of technology research at DA Davidson, said.
Huang’s potential departure would leave a leadership vacuum at the roughly $4tn chipmaker he co-founded and built over more than three decades to become the top supplier of AI chips at the center of the global artificial-intelligence boom and US-China technology rivalry.
Investors and analysts said while demand for Nvidia’s chips would be unlikely to drop in the near term, the broader universe of companies backed by the company might suffer.
“Nvidia is also at the centre of the circular financing which is providing capital to the investment boom,” said Nick Ferres, chief investment officer at Vantage Point Asset Management in Singapore.
They are financing their customers. In these types of booms or bubbles, sometimes all it takes is a slowdown to shift it into the bust phase.”
Jensen Huang’s future rests in the balance as Nvidia board reportedly meet
Nvidia’s board is meeting to decide whether to oust CEO Jensen Huang, a source familiar with the matter told the Reuters news agency, as the world’s dominant supplier of AI processors grapples with reports of two extramarital affairs involving its longtime leader.
The reports mark a sharp escalation in a controversy that began with revelations about Huang’s relationship with Alice Huang, a woman US intelligence has said was involved in facilitating shipments of Nvidia chips to Chinese firms.
In a memo to employees on Sunday, Huang acknowledged being unfaithful to his wife and took “full responsibility,” but gave no details about the relationship.
Huang, 63, has no obvious successor and owns about 3.6% of Nvidia’s stock. He also has dozens of direct reports, underscoring the tight control he maintains over the company.
The company’s shares slid about 8% in after-hours trading after the Wall Street Journal first reported that Nvidia was preparing to oust Huang. Including Wednesday’s after-hours selloff, Nvidia has lost about $600bn in stock market value this week since the board announced its investigation into his relationship with a Chinese businesswoman.
Earlier in the day, the New York Times reported that Huang had also had an extramarital affair with a company executive who reported to him.
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