Nvidia is preparing to remove chief executive Jensen Huang, an ouster that follows his admission to having an extramarital affair with a woman U.S. intelligence officials deemed to be a Chinese spy. The decision by the $4 trillion chipmaking giant, reported by the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, would deal a swift end to Huang’s 33-year reign as CEO and promises to send shockwaves throughout the technology industry and upend America’s race in artificial intelligence.
The Journal reported that Nvidia’s board could meet as soon as Wednesday to determine his fate. On Wednesday, the New York Times reported that Huang had also had an extramarital relationship with Kimberly Powell, the company’s vice president of health care. Powell could not immediately be reached for comment.
In after-hours trading, the stock was down more than 8%. According to LinkedIn, Powell has been with Nvidia for nearly two decades 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.
Huang’s long-term future with the company is not immediately clear. On Sunday, Huang acknowledged being unfaithful to his wife, and Nvidia announced an investigation into the 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,” but that its inquiry would examine “all available information.”
Huang co-founded Nvidia in 1993 and has been integral to the company’s success, particularly its magnificent run in recent years. For fiscal 2026, which ended in January, the company reported revenue of $215.9 billion, up 65% over the prior year. Growth accelerated in the first half of fiscal 2027, with stratospheric revenue of $96 billion, up 85% year over year. Nvidia previously guided third-quarter fiscal 2027 revenue to $108 billion, plus or minus 2%, and chief financial officer Colette Kress said the company expected 70% revenue growth in fiscal 2028.
Huang reigns supreme over the company. Since its founding, he has created a unique structure in which he sits at the center of most decisions, with about 60 direct reports. Nvidia’s board operates without a chair, and the company has not set out a clear succession plan. Huang is known to text and call small clients himself.
Nvidia’s succession challenge will not be whether its 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.
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