Nvidia lauds Jensen Huang’s ‘profound’ contributions; says search for permanent CEO underway

Nvidia’s board is holding meetings to decide whether to oust co-founder and CEO Jensen Huang following allegations regarding his personal relationships. According to City AM, the company's shares fell approximately eight per cent in after-hours trading following a Wall Street Journal report that the board was preparing to remove the chief executive, contributing to a weekly market value loss of roughly $600bn. Silicon Republic reports that Huang, the company's only CEO to date, has never appointed a successor.

The controversy follows Huang's admission on November 8 that he had been unfaithful to his wife. Silicon Republic notes that this admission occurred amid an internal investigation into his relationship with Alice Huang, a Chinese businessperson and former executive of the Singapore-based AI cloud provider Megaspeed. Megaspeed has reportedly purchased more than $4.8bn in Nvidia chips since 2024 and has been under investigation by US authorities regarding the potential diversion of advanced AI chips into China.

Further allegations have emerged regarding a second extramarital affair. City AM and Silicon Republic report that a New York Times report alleges Huang had a relationship with Nvidia’s vice-president of healthcare, Kimberly Powell, who reportedly reported directly to him. BusinessDay Nigeria also noted that the board is considering ending Huang's 33-year leadership amid espionage controversy.

Brief written by urgent.news from France 24 Business, BusinessDay Nigeria, Silicon Republic, Moneyweb, City AM — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.