Nvidia Board Prepares to Oust Jensen Huang After Two Affairs Surface

Nvidia's board of directors is preparing to remove co-founder and chief executive Jensen Huang after revelations of two extramarital affairs, The Wall Street Journal reports — and the company's stock dropped 8% in after-hours trading on the news. Directors could meet as early as November 11 to discuss Huang's future, though no final decision has been made. Whoever replaces him will be only the second CEO in Nvidia's 33-year history.

The board launched an independent investigation into the matter on November 8, according to the WSJ. That probe now sits at the center of the biggest leadership crisis the chipmaker has ever faced.

The stakes are hard to overstate. Huang has run Nvidia since he co-founded it in 1993, building it into the dominant supplier of the GPUs and AI accelerators that power everything from gaming rigs to hyperscale data centers. There is no precedent for a transition at the top. There is also, by most accounts, no obvious heir.

What exactly is Huang accused of?

The WSJ report landed hours after the New York Times revealed that Huang allegedly had an extramarital relationship with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia's vice president of health care — a position that reports directly to him. Five people who worked at Nvidia told the Times the relationship was known internally, and the pair were reportedly seen together at a San Jose hotel during Nvidia's GTC conference in March.

That report followed an earlier disclosure that Huang had a relationship with Alice Huang, a Chinese businesswoman whom U.S. intelligence believes to be a Chinese intelligence asset. The national-security dimension of that allegation is what turns a personal scandal into a board-level crisis at a company that sits at the heart of the U.S.-China technology rivalry.

Did Huang break Nvidia's rules?

Here the picture gets murkier. Nvidia's code of conduct explicitly identifies personal relationships as potential conflicts of interest and instructs employees to consult the company's legal department when such conflicts arise. But it does not explicitly prohibit all relationships between managers and subordinates. Whether Huang violated internal policy remains unclear.

There is a precedent in the industry, and it ended a CEO's career. Intel ousted Brian Krzanich in June 2018 after an internal investigation confirmed a consensual relationship with an employee that violated Intel's non-fraternization policy, which applies to all managers. Nvidia's rules, by contrast, leave more room for interpretation.

One more detail worth noting: back on Sunday, Nvidia's directors expressed confidence in Huang and his leadership team. That choice of words did not exactly guarantee his continued tenure.

Who could succeed Huang?

The succession question has no clean answer. Nvidia does not have anyone of Huang's caliber in the leadership team, which makes this an immediate concern rather than a long-term planning exercise.

• Colette Kress, Nvidia's chief financial officer, could serve as interim chief executive if the board ousts Huang while it searches for a permanent replacement. Whether Wall Street would accept that arrangement is another matter entirely.
• Chris Malachowsky, who co-founded Nvidia alongside Huang and once served as senior vice president of engineering and operations, remains a board member and an Nvidia Fellow. His knowledge of the company's technology, culture and history runs deep. But he has not held an executive role at Nvidia for at least a decade, so his chances of taking the top job are low.

What happens next?

The November 11 meeting, if it happens, will determine whether Huang's 33-year run ends in a boardroom vote. The independent investigation opened November 8 will shape that decision. Until then, Nvidia investors face a stock that has already shed 8% after hours — and a company whose entire identity, strategy and market position have been inseparable from one man for three decades. If the board does move, the scramble for a successor will test whether Nvidia's institutional depth can survive a future its founder never planned for.