Nvidia’s board is preparing to consider removing chief executive Jensen Huang following allegations of two extramarital affairs, including one involving a suspected Chinese spy, according to a Wall Street Journal report published Wednesday. The newspaper cited people familiar with the matter. A source separately told Reuters that directors could meet as early as Wednesday to decide his future.
The leadership uncertainty has shaken the roughly $4 trillion chipmaker. Its shares dropped about 8% in after-hours trading Wednesday, bringing its loss in market value for the week to approximately $600 billion, including that selloff, since the board disclosed its investigation. Huang helped establish Nvidia more than three decades ago and built it into the leading supplier of chips powering the artificial intelligence boom.
The New York Times reported earlier Wednesday that Huang had an affair with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of healthcare, who reported to him. That account cited five people who had worked at the company. Asked by telephone about the relationship, Huang declined to engage with the question and ended the call, the newspaper reported. Nvidia and Powell did not immediately answer requests for comment, and Reuters said it could not immediately verify the reports.
The allegations follow earlier disclosures concerning Huang’s relationship with Alice Huang. According to the source report, US intelligence has said she helped facilitate shipments of Nvidia chips to Chinese companies. Bloomberg News reported Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter, that she had returned to China and was living in Beijing with security officials’ knowledge. Reuters could not immediately confirm that account.
In a Sunday memo to employees, Huang admitted being unfaithful to his wife and accepted “full responsibility,” without describing the relationship. Nvidia’s board announced an investigation that day into whether a foreign intelligence operation had targeted him. Independent directors are supervising the inquiry with outside legal counsel. The board initially voiced confidence in Huang.
Gil Luria, head of technology research at DA Davidson, said an immediate removal could create difficulties because Nvidia lacked a succession plan. He said directors would probably move quickly if they obtained evidence that Huang had broken the law or breached company policies.
US President Donald Trump said he had not spoken with Huang about the allegations but expressed support, describing him as “an honorable guy.” Huang also faces a possible congressional subpoena unless he responds to a request for a private briefing concerning allegations about his relationship with a Chinese businesswoman who passed information to Beijing.
Huang founded Nvidia in 1993 alongside Curtis Priem and Chris Malachowsky. The company first found success with graphics chips for computer games. Its CUDA software subsequently enabled those processors to handle general computing and, eventually, artificial intelligence, placing Nvidia at the center of the technology competition between the United States and China.
