NVIDIA board preparing to oust CEO Jensen Huang

The board of NVIDIA is preparing to oust Jensen Huang, the company's chief executive, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal published on 11 November. The board is preparing to meet as soon as 11 November to determine Huang's future, people familiar with the matter told the Journal.

The report lands at a moment when the world's most valuable chipmaker is already in crisis. Huang admitted on Sunday 8 November that he had been unfaithful, and the board launched an independent investigation the same day. NVIDIA shares fell about 8% in after-hours trading on Wednesday 11 November. No decision has been announced, and Huang remains chief executive. NVIDIA has issued no statement or filing about the Journal report.

What the Journal reported

The Wall Street Journal reported on 11 November that NVIDIA's board is preparing to oust Huang, and that the board is preparing to meet as soon as 11 November to determine his future. The report cited people familiar with the matter. The Journal also reported that prediction markets assign only 13–14% odds to Huang's removal before the end of the year, a sign that investors and traders still expect him to survive.

The report is the latest turn in a scandal that has moved at extraordinary speed since the weekend, when Huang told staff in a letter on Sunday 8 November that he had been unfaithful. It is the second report in two days about the board's response. The Journal had previously reported the board's decision to open an investigation.

A second alleged affair

The New York Times reported on 11 November that the scandal involves a second alleged extramarital affair, this time with Kimberly Powell, 48, NVIDIA's vice president of health care. Powell reports directly to Huang, according to the Times. Both are married to other people.

Powell joined NVIDIA in 2008 and has been vice president of health care since late 2017, the Times reported. Two sources told the Times that the pair were seen being affectionate at a San Jose hotel during GTC, NVIDIA's developer conference, in March 2026. The Times said it has not seen any video of the alleged encounter. NVIDIA declined to comment, and Powell did not respond to the Times' requests for comment.

The affair is alleged and reported, not confirmed. It is important to be clear about that distinction: the Times' account rests on its sources, and neither NVIDIA nor Powell has confirmed it.

The first affair

The affair Huang admitted to on Sunday 8 November involved Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le, an executive at Megaspeed, a Singapore-based company that is a major NVIDIA customer. US intelligence officials believe she works for China's intelligence services, according to reporting by Reuters. China denies the claim, and Reuters said it could not independently verify it.

Huang's admission came in a staff letter on 8 November, in which he said he had been unfaithful. The letter did not name the other person.

The board's investigation

On 8 November, the same day as Huang's letter, NVIDIA's board launched an independent investigation. The inquiry is being run by the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, and is led by Joon Kim, a former federal prosecutor.

At the time it announced the investigation, the board said it had "no reason to believe" that national security or NVIDIA secrets had been compromised, and it expressed confidence in Huang. That statement, made only three days before the Journal's report that the board is preparing to oust him, shows how quickly the board's position appears to have shifted, or, at the very least, how much pressure it is now under.

The market reaction

NVIDIA shares fell about 8% in after-hours trading on Wednesday 11 November, after the Journal's report. The drop underlines how much of NVIDIA's value investors tie to Huang personally. He co-founded the company in 1993 and has led it ever since, turning it from a graphics-chip maker into the dominant supplier of the processors that power artificial intelligence, and, in the process, into the world's most valuable company.

Calls for him to go

The pressure on Huang is not only coming from inside the boardroom. Baird analysts have said he "might need to step down". Senator Kevin Cramer has called for his resignation. The calls reflect the national-security dimension of the first affair: the suggestion, from US intelligence officials, that the other person works for China's intelligence services raises questions about whether company secrets were exposed, even though the board has said it has no reason to believe they were.

Why it matters

Huang is one of the most closely identified chief executives in technology. NVIDIA's dominance in AI chips, the hardware that trains and runs the models behind ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and every other major system, is widely credited to his two-decade bet on accelerated computing. A change at the top would be the most significant leadership event in the AI industry since the brief ouster of OpenAI's Sam Altman in 2023, and Altman was back within days.

For NVIDIA, the stakes are immediate. The company is at the centre of the AI boom, with demand for its chips outstripping supply and governments around the world competing for access to them. A board in open conflict with its chief executive, and a chief executive fighting for his job, is a distraction the company can ill afford.

What remains to be determined

The board is preparing to meet as soon as 11 November to determine Huang's future, according to the Journal. No decision has been announced as of late on 11 November. The independent investigation led by Joon Kim is ongoing. Whether the board moves to remove Huang, or stands by him as it said it would on 8 November, will be decided in the coming days.