Nvidia Probe Count Hits Six as Super Micro Drops 11.6%

By Rebecca Stone

Six investigations touching Nvidia were underway by lunchtime Thursday, the day Jensen Huang resigned and Super Micro Computer shares fell 11.6%.

Nvidia traded at $164.72 at 12:58 p.m. Eastern, down 5.2%, after two hours inside a $3 range. The split matters. Equity desks are pricing legal risk into the server supply chain, where prosecutors brought smuggling charges in March, rather than Nvidia, which faces no reported charge.

Of the six, three sit at the Justice Department, one comes from Nvidia’s own board and two from Congress.

The succession market prices the same risk as time. A Polymarket contract on whether Nvidia names a permanent chief by 31 December fell from even odds at 10:11 a.m. to about 35%, according to FinanceFeeds’ readings of the public order book.

What do the six investigations cover?

• Justice Department, antitrust. One probe is “focused specifically on the chipmaker,” Semafor reported, citing two administration officials.

• Justice Department, Megaspeed and Super Micro. Two further inquiries focus on those companies and on Alice Huang’s role. US officials suspect the businesswoman of spying for China, Semafor said. CNBC, citing Bloomberg, reported that prosecutors in the Southern District of New York are examining whether organizations tied to her diverted Super Micro hardware to China.

• The Nvidia board. Directors hired Wachtell Lipton on Tuesday to investigate the intelligence allegations, CNBC reported.

House committees. Huang “has agreed to come” and will testify before Thanksgiving, House Foreign Affairs chair Brian Mast told reporters. The session is likely to proceed under oath and be transcribed.

Congressional Democrats. Senator Ron Wyden and Representative Richard Neal opened an inquiry into the administration’s approval of H200 chip exports to China, in a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

Where does the criminal case stand?

Semafor said there is “no indication that the DOJ would seek to charge Nvidia, or Huang, criminally at this time.” Neither Nvidia nor the Justice Department commented. China has denied the spying allegations, NBC News reported.

How does the resignation affect shareholder claims?

Ann Lipton, a corporate law professor at the University of Colorado, told CNBC by email that the resignation “demonstrates the seriousness of the underlying allegations, and will strengthen any shareholder claims regarding damages, the importance of any misrepresentations, and Huang’s likely knowledge of the truth.”

Rosen Law Firm, which filed a proposed class action, said “several hundreds of investors” had contacted it. The earlier investor lawsuit report alleges that Huang concealed ties to the suspected Chinese spy.

What has Nvidia said?

Nvidia’s public position is continuity. Interim chief Colette Kress told staff in an email obtained by CNBC that the company will hold a meeting on 18 November, the day after fiscal third-quarter results. Chair Harvey Jones wrote in his own note: “The Board takes seriously our duty as stewards of this great company.”

Which dates and stocks matter now?

For brokers and risk desks, the calendar matters more than the investigation count. Nvidia reports fiscal third-quarter results on 17 November and holds the staff meeting on 18 November. Huang’s House testimony is due before 26 November.

In January, control of both chambers passes to Democrats who are already investigating, so subpoena power changes hands with the files still open. Server makers are already being sorted by exposure: Dell and Hewlett Packard Enterprise were each up about 1%, while Super Micro sank, CNBC data showed.

Earlier FinanceFeeds coverage tracked record retail dip-buying and analyst downgrades, along with the House Republican subpoena threat.

What could break the market’s current judgment?

The docket, not the product roadmap, should set the news flow into year-end. The muted price action suggests investors read the probes as slow processes, a judgment Semafor’s reporting supports.

The risk is the first document that turns a probe into a finding: a charging decision in New York, the Wachtell report or sworn testimony that contradicts a filing. Until one arrives, Super Micro is where the market will express the fear. The split shows how legal exposure is separating server suppliers from Nvidia; the next filing could keep that pricing in place into year-end.