SAN FRANCISCO — Nvidia’s board of directors was meeting on Wednesday to discuss the future of CEO Jensen Huang, according to two people with knowledge of the situation, after revelations that he had an affair with an executive who reports to him as well as with a woman whom US intelligence has identified as a Chinese spy.
Nvidia didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Huang’s potential exit would open an uncertain chapter for Nvidia, the premier maker of artificial intelligence chips, and would have widespread ripple effects. The Silicon Valley firm is a linchpin of the AI boom and one of the world’s most valuable public companies, controlling an estimated 90 percent of the market for the computer chips used in the big AI projects that are driving the US economy.
That dominance has made Huang one of the wealthiest people in the world, as well as an ally of President Trump. Trump was previously informed about Huang’s relationship with the woman believed to be a Chinese intelligence asset but took no action. He has defended Huang over the past week, calling him an “honorable man” who did not know the woman was a Chinese agent.
Few Silicon Valley executives, with the exception of Tesla’s Elon Musk and Apple’s Steve Jobs, have been as synonymous with their companies as Huang, 63. He manages all aspects of Nvidia’s business, and his family members have steadily risen through the company’s ranks. He is also Nvidia’s largest individual shareholder with a 3.56 percent stake. He has had such a tight grip on the company that there is no clear successor.
Public scrutiny of Huang began after The New York Times first reported last month that US intelligence agencies had discovered that he had developed a close relationship with a Chinese citizen and chip buyer, who US officials concluded was gathering intelligence for Beijing.
The chip buyer was known as Alice Huang or Huang Le, whose biography said she worked in China as a TV reporter before becoming a top executive at a Singapore-based data-center company that had become one of Nvidia’s biggest customers in Southeast Asia. Her company bought more than $4.8 billion in chips since June 2024.
China has denied the espionage claims. Alice Huang has not responded to requests for comment.
On Wednesday, the Times reported that Jensen Huang also had an extramarital relationship with an executive who reports to him.
Under Nvidia’s code of conduct, employees are told to “avoid situations where our actions create conflict” including “personal relationships,” and the company states that it “promptly investigates reports of misconduct.” Many corporations have policies against managers having relationships with subordinates.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.