Nvidia preparing to oust CEO Jensen Huang who had second affair: reports

NVIDIA’S board is preparing to oust CEO Jensen Huang after he had two extramarital affairs, including one with a suspected Chinese spy, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday (Nov 11), citing people familiar with the matter.

The board is preparing to meet as soon as Wednesday to determine his future, the report added.

Huang also had an affair with an executive who reports to him, the New York Times reported. 

Huang had a relationship with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice-president of healthcare, the Times reported, citing unidentified people who worked at the company. Huang and Powell were captured on video being affectionate at a hotel in San Jose, California, during an Nvidia conference in March, according to the Times.

Nvidia and Powell didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment on the Times report. 

The report threatens to deepen a crisis for Nvidia’s board, which is already investigating whether Huang was the target of a foreign intelligence effort.

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Huang’s admission over the weekend of an affair has already shined a light on Nvidia’s lack of a succession plan for Huang and reinforced how inseparable the 63-year-old CEO is from the company and its success.

Shares of Nvidia dropped about 3 per cent in extended trading to US$168.71 at about 5.10 pm New York time. That’s after closing at US$173.73 on Wednesday.

Huang’s potential exit would reverberate far beyond the company’s operations, and not just because Nvidia is the dominant maker of chips at the heart of the AI boom.

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Huang is a consummate dealmaker and has used the company’s vast resources to invest in the AI supply chain and a variety of startups. He’s also a top evangelist for the AI revolution itself, downplaying fears about the risks to humanity and talking up the benefits.

On Sunday, Huang admitted to having an affair with Alice Huang, who is reportedly suspected of spying on behalf of China.

Alice Huang was an executive at Megaspeed International, a Singapore-based firm that was spun out of a Chinese gaming enterprise. That data centre company, which is Nvidia’s largest South-east Asian customer, has been under US investigation for months related to potential chip smuggling, Bloomberg has reported. Megaspeed and Nvidia have denied wrongdoing.

Beijing has dismissed allegations that it spied on Huang. BLOOMBERG, REUTERS