Nvidia board of directors considers removing Jensen Huang
Following reports of a second affair, the Nvidia founder is at risk of being ousted as CEO. The board of directors is apparently already looking for a replacement.
Nvidia's board of directors met on Wednesday to discuss the future of CEO Jensen Huang. This was reported by the New York Times, citing two informed sources. According to the Wall Street Journal, the board is preparing to oust the 63-year-old. The board is apparently already working with an external firm to find a potential successor. No decision has been announced yet.
Relationship with direct report
The trigger for the new scandal is a report from Wednesday. According to it, Huang had an extramarital affair with Kimberly Powell. The 48-year-old, as Vice President, leads Nvidia's healthcare business and reports directly to Huang. Both are married to other people.
Huang and Powell were allegedly filmed exchanging intimacies at a hotel in San Jose in March during Nvidia's developer conference, GTC. According to three informed sources, Huang's security team took the person filming aside. They were forced to sign a non-disclosure agreement. When asked by the New York Times over the phone, Huang only said: "I don't think you should be speaking to me directly." He then hung up. Powell did not comment.
The relationship is delicate because Powell is directly subordinate to Huang. Nvidia's code of conduct explicitly lists personal relationships as a potential conflict of interest. It applies to all employees and the board of directors. Violations can lead to termination. In a similar case, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich resigned in 2018 due to a relationship with an employee. McDonald's fired CEO Steve Easterbrook in 2019 for the same reason.
Second scandal following affair with alleged spy
A few days ago, Jensen Huang already admitted to another affair with a Chinese businesswoman: Alice Huang (no relation) was a top manager at Megaspeed in Singapore. The company has purchased more than 4.8 billion US dollars worth of Nvidia chips since 2024. The US intelligence service claims she passed information to Beijing. According to a secret memo, she was recruited by the Chinese Ministry of State Security. China denies the allegations.
The Nvidia CEO had initially described the contacts as "completely normal." Then the Financial Times reported that the relationship had been romantic. On Sunday, Jensen Huang finally apologized in a message to his staff.
On the same day, the board announced an investigation by an independent committee and a law firm. There is "no reason to believe" that national security or trade secrets were compromised. US President Donald Trump defended Huang as "honorable." According to media reports, he had known about his affair with the alleged spy for months – but did nothing.
Swiss national on the list of potential successors
Nvidia controls about 90 percent of the market for AI chips. Huang co-founded the company in 1993 and is the largest individual shareholder with 3.56 percent. He leads the company centrally with about 60 direct reports. The Nvidia stock lost about 8 percent of its market value after the second affair became known. Since its peak in early October, it has lost about a third. That corresponds to over 1.5 trillion US dollars.
Jensen Huang's removal would be an economic risk because the structure is tailored to him as the most important decision-maker. And time is running out: Nvidia will present its quarterly figures on November 17. By then, the board must either clearly support or oppose the CEO.
There is no clear successor, as Huang has kept the company on too tight a leash for that. Media reports mention CFO Colette Kress and long-time top manager Jay Purials as options, among others. Apple's hardware chief Johny Srouji and AMD CEO Lisa Su are mentioned as external possibilities. Huang's children, Madison and Spencer, also work at Nvidia.
A candidate from Switzerland is also son-in-law Nico Caprez. He has been married to Madison Huang since September and has had a steep career at Nvidia since joining in 2024. He currently holds the position of Vice President for Global AI Infrastructure Growth. Caprez is not entirely unknown to the Swiss public. He was in a relationship with ski racer Wendy Holdener for over nine years and was previously in the national alpine ski squad himself. However, a knee injury ended his athletic career in 2013.
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