Jensen Huang helped make Nvidia indispensable to the AI boom. Now, amid an investigation into his personal conduct, the company must confront the question of whether he is indispensable to Nvidia, too.
The cofounder and CEO has long been credited with steering the chipmaker’s extraordinary rise, helping to turn it into the world’s most valuable company and himself into one of the most powerful figures in tech.
Yet on Sunday, Huang admitted to having an affair. The woman at the center of the controversy is Alice Huang, who has been an executive for Megaspeed, an Nvidia customer. The New York Times reported that US intelligence officials believe she was passing information to Beijing. Nvidia’s board said it is looking into whether he was a target of a foreign-intelligence effort.
The company now faces an awkward dilemma: Is its star CEO too important to step down?
Some tech leaders, investors, and other executives say Huang’s track record and importance to Nvidia make him impossible to replace. Others say that no CEO should be indispensable, particularly when a board is examining whether his or her personal conduct created risks for the company.
Here’s what they’re saying:
President Donald Trump
Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Trump praised Huang’s work and said he hopes “everything’s fine.”
“He’s done such an incredible job,” said Trump. “He’s a fine person, in my opinion.”
Asked whether he wished he had acted on intelligence alleging the woman Huang had an affair with was a spy, the president said he did not.
“No, I don’t think so,” Trump said, adding that he thinks Huang is “an honorable guy.”
“I think he probably has an excuse for it,” said Trump. “You have to hear it.”
Gavin Baker, managing partner and CIO of Atreides Management
Baker is in the “stay” camp. He said on X on Sunday that he has known Huang for nearly 30 years and does not believe Huang would knowingly disadvantage the US or Nvidia.
“The only thing he has ever said to me about China is the absolute importance of keeping the American hardware ecosystem, led by Nvidia, ahead of China. That’s it,” wrote Baker. “I have never known him to be anything other than patriotic and deeply pro-American.”
Baker said that Huang should remain CEO because he sees Nvidia’s China strategy as advancing US national security interests rather than undermining them. He said on X that Huang has consistently advocated for giving China less powerful versions of the company’s chips, and Baker warned that removing Huang could benefit China.
“I’m not sure what China hoped to gain from this espionage operation given they are restricting sales of Nvidia GPUs inside of China but it is worth considering that having Jensen removed as the CEO of Nvidia might serve China’s own national security goals,” Baker wrote.
Ben Thompson, founder of Stratechery
The founder of Stratechery, a subscription-based newsletter and podcast, is also in favor of keeping Huang put and urged Nvidia leaders’ detractors “to do some reflecting of their own.”
In a post on Stratechery, Thompson said that Huang is essential to Nvidia’s success. He said AI is the most important industry to the US, and that Nvidia is one of the most important companies supporting it.
“I do not subscribe to the idea that anyone could do his job; there are great men, and Huang is one of them. That he is flawed does not change this reality; indeed, great men always are,” Thompson wrote.
He added that he hopes Huang can keep his job amid the turmoil.
“Yes, conduct the investigations; yes, demand better controls. At the end of this, however, absent evidence of any sort of clear betrayal of U.S. interests, it is in the interests of the U.S. that Huang continue to be CEO of Nvidia,” wrote Thompson. “I very much hope that is where this ends up.”
Gary Black, managing partner of The Future Fund
Black doesn’t expect Huang to stick around.
“I doubt Jensen Huang will be able to remain as $NVDA CEO,” he wrote on X on Sunday. “While Huang has not committed any crime or tort, his code of conduct and judgment will be called into question which will likely result in his removal by the NVDA Board.”
Still, Black said he thinks Huang lacks a natural successor within the company. He told Business Insider Nvidia will likely bring in someone from the outside or pick a board member to be interim CEO.
Ryan Fedasiuk, senior fellow at The Foundation for American Innovation
Ryan Fedasiuk, a senior fellow at The Foundation for American Innovation, a technology think tank, anticipates broader fallout.
“I don’t believe this personal affair will remain an isolated event,” he wrote on X on Monday. “I also don’t believe it can be separated from the company’s broader PR crisis in DC: selling advanced chips to China, including through unscrupulous measures.”
Fedasiuk said the affair could invite congressional scrutiny in part because it involved one of Nvidia’s customers.
“I don’t see how it’s possible for him to survive,” Fedasiuk told Business Insider.
Dan Ives, partner and senior managing director at Yorkville Ives
In an X post on Sunday, Ives called the saga a stain on Huang’s reputation. “This is a black eye moment for Jensen and will spark multiple congressional inquiries at a minimum and will create an overhang,” Ives wrote.
Ives later said in a follow-up post that investors largely expect Huang to remain CEO but are factoring in a small chance that the board investigation could lead to his removal or departure. Ives added that Huang was not replaceable in investors’ eyes, which he said was a worry for Wall Street.
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