By Our Correspondent
The board of Nvidia, the world’s most valuable artificial intelligence chipmaker, is preparing to remove its co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Jensen Huang, following revelations about two alleged extramarital affairs, one involving a businesswoman suspected by US intelligence of links to Chinese espionage. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that the board was preparing to meet to determine his future, although no formal decision had been announced as of Thursday morning.
The controversy began with reports that Huang had a relationship with Alice Huang, an executive at Singapore-based data centre company Megaspeed International, a major Nvidia customer. US intelligence officials reportedly suspect she was working with China’s Ministry of State Security and facilitating the diversion of Nvidia chips to Chinese companies in possible violation of US export restrictions. Nvidia’s board subsequently commissioned an independent investigation into whether its CEO had been targeted in a foreign intelligence operation. Huang later admitted to being unfaithful to his wife and apologised to his family, employees and colleagues.
The crisis deepened Wednesday when The New York Times reported that Huang had also been involved with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice-president of healthcare, who reportedly reports directly to him. The newspaper cited five people familiar with the company and reported that video evidence of the pair being affectionate had emerged internally. The allegation has raised additional questions about workplace ethics, conflicts of interest and corporate governance at the technology giant.
The revelations have unsettled investors and intensified scrutiny of Nvidia’s leadership. Its shares closed Wednesday at $173.73, 27 per cent below their October 6 record of $239.24, before falling further in after-hours trading. The decline has wiped out a substantial amount of the company’s market value. The controversy has also attracted attention from US lawmakers, with Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Chris Coons demanding that the Trump administration preserve records relating to Nvidia’s chip exports to China, citing national security concerns.
Huang, 63, co-founded Nvidia in 1993 and transformed it from a graphics-processing company into the dominant supplier of chips powering the global artificial intelligence boom. His possible departure could create a major leadership vacuum at a company central to America’s technological rivalry with China. The board’s challenge is to address the allegations, protect shareholder confidence and assess the implications for national security without disrupting a business whose success has been closely associated with its founder.