Nvidia board weighs Huang’s future after affair reports

Nvidia’s board is weighing whether to remove founder and chief executive Jensen Huang following reports of two extramarital affairs. The Wall Street Journal reported that directors were preparing to oust him, and Reuters subsequently reported that the board was meeting late Wednesday, November 11, citing a person familiar with the matter.

Neither report established that directors had reached a final decision. Nvidia did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment about the meeting, leaving Huang’s position unresolved in the reporting available.

The developments followed a New York Times report alleging that Huang had a relationship with an executive who reported to him. Reuters said it could not independently verify that account, an important qualification as the board considers allegations involving its longtime leader.

Separately, Cointelegraph reported that Huang had acknowledged being unfaithful to his wife in a Sunday letter to employees and apologized for the hurt caused to his family. According to that account, he also pledged to cooperate with an independent board investigation into national security concerns raised by news reports.

That investigation followed reporting about a relationship involving an executive at Singapore-based data company Megaspeed, a major Nvidia customer, whom U.S. intelligence officials reportedly suspected of working for China. The espionage allegation remains distinct from Huang’s acknowledgment of infidelity; the acknowledgment does not itself establish the national security claims.

The leadership deliberations represent a change from the board’s position on Sunday, when it expressed confidence in Huang and his management team, Reuters reported. The agency also reported that Nvidia’s bylaws allow a majority of directors to remove the chief executive with or without cause.

A departure would end a leadership tenure stretching back to Nvidia’s founding in 1993. The company’s official biography identifies Huang as its president, chief executive and a director since inception, underscoring how closely its corporate identity has been tied to him over more than three decades.

Nvidia’s background in graphics processing and accelerated computing provides context for the significance of any transition. Its technology has become central to modern artificial intelligence, making uncertainty over its leadership consequential beyond the company itself, even though the reports do not establish any immediate disruption to its products or operations.

Investors reacted sharply to the possibility of a change at the top. Reuters reported that Nvidia shares fell more than 8% in extended trading after the Journal’s report, reflecting market concern about a potential departure rather than confirmation that Huang had been dismissed.

The next substantive development is a confirmed board decision and any accompanying explanation of leadership arrangements. Until Nvidia announces an outcome, the reported preparations and deliberations should not be treated as a completed removal, while the separate investigation’s findings also remain unresolved in the cited accounts.