Nvidia Moves to Oust CEO Jensen Huang After Spy-Linked Affair

Nvidia shares fell more than 9% in after-hours trading after the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that the $4 trillion chipmaker is preparing to remove chief executive Jensen Huang. The move follows Huang's admission that he had an extramarital affair with a woman U.S. intelligence officials assessed to be a Chinese spy, and it would end his 33-year reign as CEO after co-founding the company in 1993.

What does the board decision change?

The Journal reported that Nvidia's board could meet as soon as Wednesday to determine Huang's fate. His long-term future with the company remains unclear. The New York Times also reported on Wednesday that Huang had an extramarital relationship with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia's vice president of health care. Powell could not immediately be reached for comment.

For finance teams, the immediate mechanics matter: this is a governance shock at a company with an unusual power structure. Huang sits at the center of most decisions with roughly 60 direct reports, the board operates without a chair, and Nvidia has never set out a clear succession plan. He is known to text and call small clients personally.

How did the investigation unfold?

On Sunday, Huang acknowledged being unfaithful to his wife. Nvidia then announced an investigation into reports that he had been targeted by a foreign intelligence effort. At the time, the board said it had "no reason to believe that either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised," while committing that its inquiry would examine "all available information."

Powell has been with Nvidia for nearly two decades, according to LinkedIn, and previously spent 10 years in AI business development. Nvidia describes her as formerly leading the company's higher education and research business, alongside Nvidia AI labs.

What is at stake financially?

The numbers explain the market reaction. For fiscal 2026, which ended in January, Nvidia reported revenue of $215.9 billion, up 65% year over year. Growth accelerated further: first-half fiscal 2027 revenue reached $96 billion, an 85% increase.

Management had previously guided third-quarter fiscal 2027 revenue to $108 billion, plus or minus 2%. Chief financial officer Colette Kress said the company expected 70% revenue growth in fiscal 2028. Those forecasts now sit under a leadership question mark.

Why succession is harder than it looks

The succession challenge is not whether Nvidia's engineers can keep building chips without Huang. It is whether anyone, or any leadership team, can inherit his authority to decide what gets built, secure the industry's commitment to it, and keep customers confident in the next bet.

The factors behind Huang's removal "hasten a transition the company is not prepared for," Gil Luria, an analyst with D.A. Davidson & Co., told Fortune.

The ouster promises to send shockwaves through the technology industry and could upend America's race in artificial intelligence. For practitioners watching the tape, the working read is straightforward: a 9% after-hours drop prices governance risk at a company where one man has held the decision rights for more than three decades.