Nvidia board weighs removing founder Jensen Huang after second affair report
Huang's security offered a nondisclosure agreement to the bystander who filmed him with subordinate executive Kimberly Powell, the company's own code of conduct lists personal relationships among conflicts
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Daniel Howley
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Nvidia's board is preparing to decide whether to remove founder and chief executive Jensen Huang, the Wall Street Journal reported, after the New York Times detailed a second extramarital affair — this one with an executive who reports directly to him. The company's shares fell in after-hours trading, and the odds of a resignation spiked on the betting market Polymarket.
The Times, citing five people who worked at Nvidia, reports that Huang had a relationship with Kimberly Powell, the company's vice president of health care, who joined in 2008 and now speaks for Nvidia at technology conferences around the world. Both are married to other people. Two of the sources said the pair were filmed being affectionate at a San Jose hotel in March, during Nvidia's annual GTC conference while executives met nearby. Three people briefed on the incident say a bystander captured the moment on a phone, and that Huang's security detail then spotted the bystander, sequestered them and offered a nondisclosure agreement. The Times says it has not seen the video. Reached by phone and asked about Powell, Huang replied, "I don't think you should be talking to me directly," and hung up. Nvidia declined to comment.
Nvidia's own code of conduct tells employees to avoid situations that "create conflict" and lists personal relationships among them; many large corporations bar relationships between managers and subordinates outright. Baird downgraded the stock to Neutral on Wednesday, in a note titled "Icarus' Rise and Fall; Company Will Be Fine," with analyst Tristan Gerra writing that uncertainty over the CEO's tenure — alongside government investigations and the upcoming congressional hearing — must clear before the shares can be recommended again.
The board's problem is that Huang is not a hired manager. He founded the company, is its most recognizable face, and has been its chief advocate in Washington on chip export policy — the area where his private life has now collided with his public role. US officials identified Alice Huang (no relation), a former executive at the Singapore-based company Megaspeed, as a Chinese intelligence asset after the Nvidia chief grew close to her, and The Information has reported she is believed to be part of a network of Chinese companies that facilitated $7.5 billion in chip sales to China. Huang admitted that affair in a November 8 staff memo — "I was unfaithful to my wife. My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did" — and the board opened an independent investigation, led by the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, the same day. The board says it has no reason to believe that national security or Nvidia secrets were compromised.
Republican committee chairs have asked Huang to appear behind closed doors on November 18 to explain his dealings with Alice Huang, and House Foreign Affairs chairman Brian Mast says he is prepared to issue a subpoena if Huang does not respond by Wednesday — the day the Powell report ran. President Trump has stood by Huang, calling him "an honorable guy," while saying the FBI is looking into the relationship. Each disclosure has arrived while Huang remains the company's leading voice on export controls, and each one narrows the board's room to keep him.
Nvidia reports third-quarter earnings on November 17. Huang is due on Capitol Hill the following morning.