Nvidia’s shares plunge as US tech giant’s board reportedly weighs ousting CEO Jensen Huang

LOS ANGELES, Nov 12 – US tech giant Nvidia is reportedly looking at whether its CEO will remain with the company. The company’s board is meeting as its stocks plummeted following US media reports about a second alleged affair involving CEO Jensen Huang. While the company just yesterday hired a major law firm to conduct an investigation into Huang’s affair with a woman who is allegedly a spy for China, the New York Times reported that Huang also had an affair with an Nvidia employee.

That pushed the board to consider Huang’s ongoing position as CEO of the company, according to reports from the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times. Nvidia’s Board had previously appeared supportive of Huang, saying it had no reason to believe the company’s secrets or national security were compromised related to Huang’s first affair. As of late Wednesday evening, Nvidia’s Board had not released any statement.

Calls to multiple company representatives and Nvidia Board members have not received a response. Nvidia’s share price plunges in after-hours trading Shares in Nvidia, the world’s second most valuable company behind Apple, have plunged almost 7.5% in after hours trading. The chip-making giant ended the day on Wall Street in positive terrority after a difficult few days following the news of an affair between CEO Jensen Huang and a woman alleged to be a Chinese spy.

Why is Nvidia so important? US tech giant Nvidia is the world’s most valuable publicly-traded company – worth some $4.5tn (£3.4tn) – and a leading provider of advanced computer chips. These computer chips are critical for all kinds of technology – from video games and autonomous vehicles to massive data centres and cloud servers. But most importantly for the AI arms race, these chips are used to power artificial intelligence, including large language models and generative AI systems.

The US’s biggest competitor in the race to build the most powerful AI systems is China, and Washington has restricted exports of the most advanced Nvidia chips to Beijing since 2022. The US has justified export restrictions on national security grounds, arguing that such exports could enhance China’s military capabilities, although some restrictions have been eased under President Trump.