Nvidia’s board of directors met on Wednesday, November 11, 2026, to decide the future of its co-founder and CEO Jensen Huang, according to The Wall Street Journal. The executive, who admitted to an extramarital affair with a woman suspected by U.S. authorities of spying for China, is the subject of an internal investigation.
Nvidia is facing a governance crisis that could have repercussions across the entire artificial intelligence industry. According to The Wall Street Journal, citing sources close to the matter, the board was preparing to remove Jensen Huang from his roles, which he has held since the company’s founding in 1993. Reuters, which relayed the information, notes it has not been able to verify it independently.
What we know about the internal investigation
On Sunday, November 8, Jensen Huang admitted in a message to employees that he had been unfaithful to his wife. The relationship involved Alice Huang, a businesswoman whom U.S. intelligence agencies suspect of being linked to China’s Ministry of State Security and of facilitating deliveries of Nvidia chips to Chinese companies.
The same day, the board announced the opening of an independent investigation into whether the executive was the target of a foreign intelligence operation. A committee of independent directors, assisted by outside lawyers, is overseeing it. The board stated it had “no reason to believe” U.S. national security or company secrets had been compromised. Jensen Huang said he supported the investigation and would cooperate fully.
A second alleged relationship
On November 11, The New York Times reported that Jensen Huang also allegedly had a relationship with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of health, who reports directly to him. The company had not confirmed this information. These revelations raise questions about executive conduct rules and conflict-of-interest prevention.
A stock drop and the succession question
Nvidia’s stock fell more than 8% in after-hours trading on Wednesday, November 11, to $159.51. According to CBS News, the group’s market capitalization had already lost over $450 billion since the investigation was announced. Other companies linked to the Nvidia ecosystem also faced market pressure.
Gil Luria, an analyst at D.A. Davidson, told Reuters: “An immediate ouster of Mr. Huang could be difficult for Nvidia, as the company does not have a succession plan.” According to Bloomberg, the board is working with an outside firm to identify possible replacements.
Nvidia holds a dominant position in the market for AI accelerators, and its decisions directly influence the investment strategies of hyperscalers, cloud providers, and server manufacturers. For customer companies, however, the immediate consequences of a leadership change should not be overstated, as roadmaps, contracts, and engineering teams do not depend on a single individual.
The main question is the board’s ability to preserve the group’s stability while conducting its investigation independently, just days before the release of its quarterly results, scheduled for November 17.
