Nvidia prepares to oust Jensen Huang after news of second affair, with executive: reports - The Business Times
NVIDIA’S board is preparing to oust CEO Jensen Huang after he had two extramarital affairs, including one with a suspected Chinese spy, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday (Nov 11), citing people familiar with the matter.
The board is preparing to meet as soon as Wednesday to determine his future, the report added.
Huang also had an affair with an executive who reports to him, the New York Times reported on the same day.
Huang had a relationship with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice-president of healthcare, theTimes reported, citing unidentified people who worked at the company.
Huang and Powell were captured on video being affectionate at a hotel in San Jose, California, during an Nvidia conference in March, according to the Times.
Huang’s potential departure would leave a leadership vacuum at the roughly US$4 trillion chipmaker he co-founded and built over more than three decades to become the dominant supplier of AI chips at the centre of the global artificial intelligence boom and US-China technology rivalry.
According to a Bloomberg report, Nvidia is reportedly working with an outside firm to identify CEO candidates.
The company’s shares slid about 8 per cent in after-hours trading.
Including Wednesday’s after-hours sell-off, Nvidia has lost about US$600 billion in stock market value this week since the board announced its investigation.
“Huang being removed immediately could be challenging for Nvidia since it does not have a succession plan in place ... If Mr Huang broke the law or violated company policies, the board is likely to act as soon as they have proof,” Gil Luria, head of technology research at DA Davidson, said.
When reached by phone on Wednesday and asked about his relationship with Powell, Huang said, “I don’t think you should be talking to me directly” and then hung up, the Times reported.
Huang, 63, and Powell, 48, were captured on video being affectionate at a San Jose, California, hotel during a Nvidia conference in March, according to two of the people who worked at the company. The Times has not seen the video.
Both Huang and Powell are married to other people.
Nvidia and Powell did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Reuters could not immediately verify the reports.
The reports mark a sharp escalation in a controversy that began with revelations about Huang’s relationship with Alice Huang, a woman US intelligence has said was involved in facilitating shipments of Nvidia chips to Chinese firms.
In a memo to employees on Sunday, Huang acknowledged being unfaithful to his wife and took “full responsibility”, but gave no details about the relationship.
The same day, Nvidia’s board launched an investigation into whether Huang had been targeted by a foreign intelligence operation.
The probe is being overseen by independent directors with outside legal counsel. At the time, the board expressed confidence in Huang.
US President Donald Trump has said , calling him “an honourable guy” who had “done an amazing job for our country”.
Huang faces a potential congressional subpoena if he does not respond to a request to provide a closed-door briefing about the allegations that he had a close relationship with the Chinese businesswoman who passed information to Beijing.
Huang co-founded Nvidia in 1993 with Curtis Priem and Chris Malachowsky. Its early hits were graphics chips for computer games, before its CUDA software opened the processors to general computing and, later, AI. BLOOMBERG, REUTERS, NYTIMES
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