Nvidia’s board met late Wednesday to consider removing chief executive Jensen Huang as the company faced mounting scrutiny over his personal relationships. The chipmaker lost more than $600bn in market value this week, and its shares dropped more than 8 percent in after-hours trading Wednesday following a report that directors were preparing to replace him.
Huang, 63, acknowledged being unfaithful to his wife in a staff memo Sunday. The admission followed reports linking him to Alice Huang, a former executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed whom US officials suspect of working for Chinese intelligence. China denies that allegation. On Wednesday, The New York Times reported an additional relationship with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of healthcare, who reports to him, citing five people who had worked at the company. [ABC News also reported on the allegations and possible removal](https://abcnews.go.com/US/nvidia-board-reportedly-preparing-oust-ceo-jensen-huang/story?id=138062059).
Directors have the authority to dismiss Huang through a majority vote under Nvidia’s bylaws, whether or not they establish cause. Ten of the board’s 11 members are considered independent, with Huang the exception. His ownership stake is about 3.6 percent, according to LSEG data, and he lacks majority voting control. Nvidia also has no board chair, an arrangement geopolitical analyst Steve Okun criticised in comments to Al Jazeera.
The board announced an independent investigation Sunday into whether Huang had been targeted by foreign intelligence, while expressing confidence in him and his leadership team. Bloomberg reported that directors had enlisted an outside firm to help identify potential successors. Huang has not publicly designated a replacement. Analysts cited by Reuters identified chief financial officer Colette Kress and engineer Ian Buck as possible internal candidates.
Huang has run Nvidia since cofounding it in 1993, overseeing its transformation from a supplier of video game graphics chips into the leading producer of processors for advanced artificial intelligence. The company, valued at $4.2 trillion, holds an estimated 80 to 90 percent of that chip market and ranks behind only Apple in market value.
Omdia chief analyst Lian Jye Su told Al Jazeera that a leadership change would have little effect on short-term continuity, although a successor could alter Nvidia’s longer-term strategy. Investors are already adjusting their expectations. Armina Rosenberg, cofounder of Nvidia shareholder Minotaur Capital, told Reuters that markets increasingly viewed Huang’s departure as the likely outcome.
Questions also surround Nvidia’s dealings with Megaspeed, which bought about $4.8bn in equipment from the chipmaker, according to The New York Times. US authorities have investigated Megaspeed since 2024 over suspicions it helped China acquire advanced Nvidia chips in violation of export controls. Megaspeed denies wrongdoing. Carsten Holz of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology told Al Jazeera that the likelihood of Huang passing significant technical information to another person appeared extremely low.
President Donald Trump said Monday that the FBI was examining the matter. Three Republican House committee chairs have requested a closed-door briefing with Huang on November 18, with a possible subpoena if he does not respond, Reuters reported. His attendance alongside Trump at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen on November 18 and 19 also remains uncertain.
