By Jeremy Bowman
Publication Date: 2026-11-12 04:50:00
In just a few days, Nvidia (NVDA +2.87%) CEO Jensen Huang has gone from AI’s rock star to a Greek tragedy.
Over the weekend, Huang admitted to an affair with a suspected Chinese spy, sparking an investigation by the company and multiple calls for inquiries across the federal government due to Nvidia’s possible violation of chip export restrictions.
Just three days later, on Wednesday, The New York Times reported that Huang had had a relationship with an Nvidia executive, Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of healthcare, who reports directly to him. Their relationship would appear to be in violation of the company’s code of conduct, and on Wednesday, Nvidia’s leadership met to discuss Huang’s future with the company. The Wall Street Journal reported that Nvidia’s board is preparing to remove Huang.
Nvidia stock tumbled on Monday and Tuesday in response to the admission of the relationship with the purported Chinese agent. After a partial recovery on Wednesday, the stock dropped 7% in after-hours trading on news of the second affair.
Image source: Nvidia.
Nvidia’s future hangs in the balance
Nvidia and its investors are in uncharted territory here. Over the last few years, Huang has become the face of not just Nvidia, but AI itself. His company, until recently, was the most valuable in the world, and its chips are at the heart of the AI boom, in demand from virtually every company working in AI, from labs to hyperscalers to physical AI.
With that success, Huang has…
