Nvidia Board Weighs Jensen Huang Exit

Reuters, cited by The Guardian, said Nvidia’s board is meeting as the stock sinks on scandal.

Nvidia’s board is meeting to decide whether to oust chief executive Jensen Huang, Reuters reported, citing a source familiar with the matter in an account carried by The Guardian. For a company that has spent years selling indispensable chips to the AI boom, the immediate problem is less silicon than control.

The reported board meeting follows a sharp escalation in scrutiny around Huang’s personal conduct and his relationships. The Guardian said the controversy began with revelations about Huang’s relationship with Alice Huang, a woman U.S. intelligence has said was involved in facilitating shipments of Nvidia chips to Chinese firms. It also cited reporting from the New York Times that Huang had an extramarital relationship with an Nvidia executive who reported to him.

Huang, 63, acknowledged being unfaithful to his wife in a memo to employees and said he took “full responsibility,” according to The Guardian. The memo, as described there, did not give details about the relationship.

The market has already voted on the inconvenience, if not yet on the verdict. Nvidia shares fell about 8% in after-hours trading after the Wall Street Journal reported that the company was preparing to oust Huang, The Guardian said. Since the board announced its investigation into his relationship with a Chinese businesswoman, Nvidia has lost about $600 billion in market value, according to the same report. That is the sort of number that tends to concentrate directors’ minds, especially at a company whose premium valuation depends on looking operationally superior to everyone else in the room.

The governance problem is not only the alleged conduct but the concentration of power around one executive. The Guardian reported that Huang owns about 3.6% of Nvidia stock, has no obvious successor and oversees dozens of direct reports. Founders often describe this as vision. Boards tend to call it key-person risk once events intrude.

What is confirmed from the available reporting is narrower than the market panic around it: Reuters reported a board meeting on Huang’s future; Huang admitted infidelity in an employee memo; and other outlets reported additional alleged relationships, including one involving a subordinate. Whether directors remove him, keep him, or attempt the corporate classic of appearing decisive while preserving continuity, Nvidia is no longer dealing with a private embarrassment. It is dealing with a governance discount.