Nvidia’s board of directors met on Wednesday to decide whether to oust Jensen Huang as CEO, according to reports. This sharp shift followed a tumultuous week where the co-founder admitted to a romantic relationship with Alice Huang, a businesswoman accused of being a Chinese spy. The company’s stock slid more than 8% in after-hours trading after the Wall Street Journal reported that Nvidia was preparing to fire Huang. If those losses hold, the chip giant will have lost about $685 billion in market value since the board announced its investigation into his relationship with the Singapore-based executive.
A Governance Crisis Without a Clear Successor
The New York Times reported that Huang had a separate extramarital affair with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s president of healthcare. She was reportedly captured on video being affectionate with Huang at a hotel during a company conference in March. Dan Ives, a US tech analyst, said the company "likely now has to move on without Jensen at the helm." Armina Rosenberg, a portfolio manager at Minotaur Capital, noted that the market is starting to price Nvidia without its founder as the likely outcome, not a tail risk. Under Nvidia’s bylaws, Huang can be removed "with or without cause" by a majority vote of the eleven directors, all but whom are considered independent.
Huang personally owns more than 870 million shares, roughly 3.6% of the company, making him the world’s 13th richest person according to Bloomberg. He has no obvious successor and maintains an unusual management structure with dozens of direct reports, emphasizing his control over the firm. Bob O’Donnell, chief analyst at Technalysis Research, described the potential exit as a "Shakespearian tragedy," noting that it is difficult to believe given Huang’s status as a great visionary. R Ray Wang of Constellation Research added that the scandal represents a crisis for Nvidia specifically rather than the entire AI sector, because many partnerships were built on trust in Jensen. Stacy Rasgon of Bernstein halved his price target, writing that their intuition says they probably have not explored everything that can be discovered here. Baird and Bernstein Research lowered their recommendations, while Morgan Stanley removed the stock from its list of favorites.
Political Fallout and International Reactions
Democratic senators Elizabeth Warren and Chris Coons asked the Trump administration to preserve all documents tied to Nvidia’s chip exports to China. Their letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, State Secretary Marco Rubio, and White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller stated that the incident raises significant concerns about the federal government’s ability to effectively enforce export controls and protect national security. In response, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told the BBC that the United States must stop inventing supposed narratives of espionage to find pretexts for imposing technological blocks. She emphasized that China’s scientific progress is driven by independent innovation and open cooperation, and that Beijing remains willing to work with Washington to implement agreements between the two heads of state.
A Taiwanese government minister said Alice Huang visited Taiwan eight times in 2024 and 2025. Chiu Chui-cheng, the Mainland Affairs Council minister, stated there were "no special flags" about her at the time, adding that if they had any critical intelligence, they would have definitely flagged her for heightened review. Huang admitted in an email to employees on Sunday that he had an affair and would cooperate with the internal investigation, though he denied any knowledge that the woman allegedly worked for the Chinese government. Donald Trump backed Huang, calling him an honorable guy who did an incredible job. Elon Musk replied to a query on X about hiring a jobless Huang by saying, "That would be an honour." The board appointed Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to conduct a thorough and independent investigation, directing Huang to continue helming Nvidia while the process is ongoing.
