New York (AFP) – Nvidia’s board is preparing to oust its co-founder and CEO Jensen Huang, US media reported Wednesday, as the chip giant’s chief faces new accusations of infidelity, following revelations of an affair with a woman accused of spying for China. The tech company’s board was preparing to meet as soon as Wednesday to determine Huang’s future, according to the Wall Street Journal, which quoted people familiar with the matter.
The New York Times reported Wednesday that Huang was also involved in a second extramarital affair with a subordinate, noting there was video evidence of the 63-year-old executive being affectionate with Nvidia’s vice president of health care, Kimberly Powell. Powell, 48, has been a public face of Nvidia’s efforts to expand the chip technology into higher education and health care, and was speaking at a San Jose, California conference where they “were seen being affectionate at the hotel” by bystanders, the Times reported.
The report of the second affair follows Huang’s acknowledgment of a relationship with Alice Huang, a senior executive at Singapore-based data center company Megaspeed. The Wall Street Journal reported that the two were photographed together in Taipei in 2024 and 2025. US intelligence reportedly circulated a memo this past spring alleging that Alice Huang was an asset of China’s Ministry of State Security.
The Nvidia CEO admitted to having had a relationship with Huang — to whom he bears no familial relation — in a note to Nvidia employees Sunday, writing: “I was unfaithful to my wife.” The same day, Nvidia’s board of directors said in a statement that they had launched “an independent investigation in light of recent reporting that founder and CEO Jensen Huang has been the target of a foreign intelligence effort.” “I support the investigation and will cooperate fully. I love our country and our company,” Huang wrote in his statement.
He has also been called on by Congress to provide a closed-door briefing on his interactions with Alice Huang, the Times reported. As the artificial intelligence industry surge has spurred Nvidia’s stock prices to new heights, Huang has appeared at US President Donald Trump’s side at White House events, including last month when he accepted a National Medal of Science from the Republican leader.
Huang was among the world’s most influential tech leaders — including Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg — who vowed to self-regulate AI against possible threats, as Trump rejected calls for government oversight and dismissed warnings that the technology could wipe out humanity. Nvidia shareholders filed a class action lawsuit against Huang and the AI chip maker for failing to disclose information about the relationship to investors. Nvidia shares have plummeted in recent days since Huang admitted to the affair.
Nvidia designs advanced components originally created to handle 3D visuals in video games, called Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). Nvidia’s processors are mostly made by Taiwanese company TSMC, the world’s largest contract manufacturer of chips.
© 2024 AFP
