Nvidia shares fell about 8% in after-hours trading on Wednesday after reports emerged that the company’s board is preparing to oust CEO Jensen Huang.
The market reaction followed news of a second extramarital affair involving the 63-year-old industry leader. This development adds to a growing scandal that now involves allegations of espionage and potential national security breaches.
Recent developments
The New York Times reported on Wednesday that Huang had also maintained an extramarital relationship with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of health care. Powell reports directly to the CEO. The report states that footage captured the pair being affectionate at a hotel during a conference earlier this year. Neither Nvidia, Huang, nor Powell has confirmed the story.
When reached by a reporter, Huang reportedly said, “I don’t think you should be talking to me directly,” before ending the call.
Separately, the Wall Street Journal noted that the Nvidia board is moving to remove Huang from his position. The company has not had a clear successor or a formal succession plan in place. Huang has historically delegated very little authority and manages approximately 60 direct reports.
Three Republican congressmen have asked Huang to appear for a closed-door briefing regarding his conduct. House China committee Chairman Moolenaar stated that if Huang refuses to attend, he will likely be subpoenaed. Huang has not responded to the request.
Earlier this week, the CEO cancelled speaking engagements at the ElevenLabs Summit and the Anthropic CEO Forum.
Details regarding the business ties between Nvidia and the alleged spy emerged late last week. Alice Huang, a Chinese citizen and executive at Megaspeed, is the subject of the espionage allegations. She is not related to Jensen Huang.
Megaspeed, a Singapore-based firm, reportedly purchased $4.8 billion worth of Nvidia chips over the last two years. The company has been investigated by both the United States and Singapore for suspected illegal sharing of chips with China. The Justice Department has since taken over the federal investigation.
Reports indicate Alice Huang and her family built a network of companies in China and Singapore to acquire Nvidia hardware. This included founding Shanghai Century Litong in 2023. The Information reported that the firm became an Nvidia-preferred cloud partner, granting it priority access to chips. It facilitated the purchase of $7.5 billion worth of Nvidia hardware, including models subject to export bans.
Nvidia’s head lawyer, Tim Teter, intervened in a 2025 U.S. government probe into suspected chip smuggling by Megaspeed International. Teter contacted Commerce Under Secretary Jeffrey Kessler to ask if the Trump administration played a role in detaining Alice Huang.
In early 2025, Alice Huang and a business partner sought investors in China for an Asian data center. They claimed they had no difficulty securing GPUs, according to the Financial Times.
On Sunday night, President Trump weighed in on the controversy. He told reporters he had not spoken to Huang about the issue but knew him to be a fine person. When asked if Huang should remain chief of Nvidia, Trump replied, “I think so. Oh yeah, sure.”
On November 8, Huang wrote a letter to Nvidia employees admitting to cheating on his wife. He stated, “I owe my family and all of you an apology. I was unfaithful to my wife. My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did. I am deeply sorry.”
He did not name Alice Huang in the message but linked his infidelity to national security concerns raised in news reports. He noted that the Board of Directors had initiated an independent investigation and that he would cooperate fully. Huang expressed pride in being an American and a commitment to protecting Nvidia.
Nvidia shares slid over 5% the following day.
On November 5, three Republican committee chairmen sent a joint request to Huang for a closed-door briefing. The letter cited significant national security concerns regarding the People’s Republic of China’s access to sensitive U.S. technology. The chairmen wrote that it is vital for Congress to determine the extent to which national security has been placed at risk.
The New York Times broke the initial story in late October that the two executives had a close relationship. U.S. officials had been investigating Alice Huang and Megaspeed for more than a year. An Nvidia spokesperson denied the relationship was unusual, stating that Jensen talks with thousands of customer executives every year. A spokesperson added that if the U.S. government believed anyone was a threat, they would be informed.
A secret memo circulated within the Trump administration in the spring of 2026 warning that Alice Huang was a spy for China’s Ministry of State Security. Secretary of State Marco Rubio supervised the drafting of the document. It was not public knowledge until the New York Times reported it.
President Donald Trump was briefed on intelligence findings regarding the spy relationship around the same time but did not take action. Huang, an ally of the president, has repeatedly advocated for the U.S. government to allow Nvidia to expand its business in China.
Megaspeed was confirmed to be under investigation by both the U.S. and Singaporean governments in October 2025. The firm was suspected of helping Chinese companies bypass American embargoes on chip exports. The Times reported that Megaspeed rented computing power to Chinese internet giant Alibaba and others.
A Commerce Department official who visited Megaspeed’s data center in Malaysia in 2024 found a hoard of Nvidia equipment still packed in boxes. The concern was that the equipment was being directly shipped to China rather than installed and sold as a cloud service.
Jensen Huang had been spotted socializing with Alice Huang as early as 2024 in Taiwan, where the Nvidia CEO was born.
At the time of the initial investigations, an Nvidia spokesperson told press that the company did not have any reason to believe products had been diverted. They stated that Nvidia had visited multiple Megaspeed sites and confirmed the firm was running a small commercial cloud as allowed by U.S. export control rules.
What it means
The situation highlights the intense scrutiny facing Nvidia as a key player in the global AI infrastructure race. The company’s ability to sell its most powerful chips to Chinese entities is restricted by government rules. If the allegations of espionage are proven true, they could have serious implications for national security and the company’s future operations in the region.
