Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang reportedly faces ouster amid allegations of a second affair, three days after President Donald Trump said the billionaire “probably has an excuse” for the first fling with a purported Chinese spy.
Nvidia’s board is preparing to oust Jensen Huang after he had two extramarital affairs, including one with a suspected Chinese spy, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. Directors could meet as soon as the same day to decide his future, people familiar with the matter told the Journal.
The Journal’s story followed a New York Times account that Jensen Huang, 63, had an extramarital relationship with Kimberly Powell, 48, Nvidia’s vice president of health care, who reports to him.
Five people who worked at the company described the relationship to the paper.
Two of those people told the Times that Jensen Huang and Powell were recorded being affectionate at a hotel in San Jose, California, during an Nvidia conference in March. The paper said it had not seen the video.
“I don’t think you should be talking to me directly,” Jensen Huang said when a Times reporter called to ask about Powell. He then hung up. Nvidia declined to comment, and Powell did not immediately respond.
“Multiple investors tell me after news of Jensen’s second affair that there’s no way he stays on as CEO,” Axios reporter Madison Mills wrote on X. She said the investors were offering opinions and did not know of any internal move to remove him.
Because Powell reports to Jensen Huang, the Times account adds a workplace issue to the national security questions raised by his first affair. Nvidia’s code of conduct tells employees to “avoid situations where our actions create conflict,” including “personal relationships.”
“Jensen is committed to continuing to lead Nvidia as CEO without interruption,” company spokesperson John Rizzo said Sunday, the day the board opened an investigation into reports that foreign intelligence had targeted Jensen Huang.
By Wednesday, the board was preparing to do the opposite, the Journal reported, leaving Trump vouching for an executive whose own directors may push him out.
“I think he’s an honorable guy, I think he probably has an excuse for it,” Trump told reporters Sunday in West Palm Beach, Florida.
“There is no excuse for what I did,” Jensen Huang had written in a Nov. 8 message to employees admitting the affair, according to the Daily Beast.
“I’d certainly take him,” Trump said Sunday when asked whether he would still bring Jensen Huang on his trip to Asia, which ends in China on Nov. 19. “I haven’t heard he’s done anything wrong. He dealt with somebody, but you know, so does everybody else.”
The affair Jensen Huang admitted was with Alice Huang, an executive whom U.S. officials suspect of spying for China, according to the Times. The two are not related. China has denied the espionage claims, and she has not responded to requests for comment.
Trump invited Jensen Huang onto Air Force One for a May trip to China after the CEO was left off the original delegation, Newsweek reported, citing the Times.
Nvidia has also committed $25 million to Trump’s White House ballroom, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post.
The Times has reported that Trump was briefed on intelligence about the relationship roughly a year ago. Trump said Monday that he had been hearing about it “over a period of time, but not too long ago.”
“I’m sure President Xi will ask me about it,” Trump has said of upcoming talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
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