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Nvidia’s board is preparing to oust co-founder and CEO Jensen Huang after he had two extramarital affairs, including one with a woman U.S. intelligence officials believe works for Chinese intelligence, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
The board could meet as early as Wednesday to decide Huang’s future.
No decision had been announced as of Thursday morning.
Nvidia shares fell about 8% in after-hours trading, extending a recent slide.
Huang, 63, acknowledged in a letter to staff on Sunday that he had been unfaithful to his wife and apologized for violating his family’s and employees' trust.
The affair involved Alice Huang, a former executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed, a major Nvidia customer, whom U.S. officials have concluded is a Chinese intelligence asset, according to The New York Times (NYT).
China has denied the spying allegations.
The New York Times also reported that Huang had an affair with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of healthcare, citing five people who worked at the company.
Nvidia’s board is investigating whether Huang was targeted by a foreign intelligence operation.
Megaspeed and its Malaysian affiliate have reportedly bought more than $4.8 billion in advanced Nvidia AI chips and equipment over the past three years. The company, suspected of helping Chinese customers access restricted chips, has denied illegally diverting chips to China and has been under Commerce Department investigation since late 2024.
The Justice Department is now leading multiple investigations involving Alice Huang, the WSJ reported.
Huang, Nvidia’s largest shareholder with about 3.6%, has led the company since its 1993 founding and has said he does not believe in succession planning.
Nvidia’s proxy statement warns the company is "highly dependent on the services of our longstanding executive team."
Analysts cited Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress, 59, and Ian Buck, head of product for hyperscale AI and a key architect of the CUDA software platform, as leading candidates, Reuters reported.
"The board would likely want an engineer in the chair," said Josh Gilbert of eToro. Prediction market Polymarket showed an 83% chance Huang would resign or be removed by year-end.
Other names mentioned include researcher Bryan Catanzaro, Huang’s children Madison and Spencer Huang, who work at Nvidia, AMD CEO Lisa Su, Arm CEO Rene Haas and former Apple CEO Tim Cook.
U.S. President Donald Trump stood by Huang earlier this week, calling him an "amazing guy" and "honorable man" and saying Huang did not know Alice Huang was a suspected spy.
Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Chris Coons urged the administration to preserve all records on Nvidia’s chip exports to China.
"This incident raises significant concerns about the federal government’s ability to effectively enforce our export controls and protect our national security," they wrote to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, requesting confirmation by Nov. 17 and a congressional briefing.
Chinese AI companies are trying to rent Nvidia-powered computing capacity at data centers outside China, fearing the scandal could boost the Remote Access Security Act, which would let the Commerce Department regulate remote access to restricted chips, three people told Reuters.
The House passed the bill 369-22 in January. Grey-market buyers are also stockpiling restricted chips, two people said, as the Jensen Huang crisis deepens.
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