Jensen Huang may be about to discover that even the man at the center of the artificial intelligence boom can make himself a liability. Nvidia’s board is preparing to oust its co-founder and chief executive, according to a new report, as scrutiny of his personal conduct reaches deeper into the company he built.
The Wall Street Journal reports that directors are preparing to meet as soon as today to determine Huang’s future, citing people familiar with the matter. That does not mean he has been fired, but the reported preparations put his continued leadership in question.
The development follows Huang’s admission that he was unfaithful to his wife and a separate report alleging a relationship with a senior Nvidia executive who reports directly to him. For a company supplying the hardware behind much of the AI industry, this is an extraordinary distraction with consequences that could extend well beyond the executive suite.
According to The New York Times, five people who worked at Nvidia described an extramarital relationship between Huang and Kimberly Powell, the company’s vice president of health care. Both are married to other people, and Powell’s position as a direct report makes the allegation a matter of corporate accountability as well as personal conduct.
The Times also reports that sources described the pair being affectionate at a San Jose hotel during Nvidia’s GTC conference in March. A bystander reportedly recorded the interaction, although the newspaper explicitly says it has not seen the video.
Then there is the alleged response to that recording. Three people briefed on the incident told the Times that Huang’s security team sequestered the person filming and offered them a nondisclosure agreement.
That account deserves scrutiny of its own if substantiated. It raises questions about how Huang’s security team handled a potentially embarrassing incident, although the reporting does not establish that an agreement was signed or money changed hands.
When the Times contacted Huang about Powell, he said, “I don’t think you should be talking to me directly.” He then hung up, while Nvidia declined to provide a statement and Powell did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Nvidia’s code of conduct tells employees to avoid situations that create conflicts, including personal relationships, according to the Times. That wording alone does not prove a policy violation, but it gives the board an obvious question to examine: Did the chief executive meet the standards the company expects from its employees?
We previously covered the affair and suspected Chinese espionage controversy surrounding Huang. That matter involves Alice Huang, an executive at Singapore-based Nvidia customer Megaspeed whom U.S. intelligence officials believe worked for Chinese intelligence.
Huang acknowledged infidelity in a letter to staff on Sunday and apologized, while Nvidia’s board opened an independent investigation. China has denied the espionage claims, and the alleged relationship with Powell is a separate matter that should not be confused with those accusations.
Frankly, being brilliant at selling chips does not make someone immune to questions about judgment. If a relationship with a direct report occurred, employees and shareholders would have every reason to ask how potential conflicts were disclosed and managed.
There is also a difference between acknowledging personal wrongdoing and resolving the company’s problems. An apology cannot answer questions about workplace authority, the alleged handling of a recording, or whether directors have enough confidence in Huang to keep him in charge.
Huang helped build an enormously consequential technology company, and replacing him would be no small decision. But a founder’s achievements cannot become a permanent exemption from accountability, especially when the company’s interests may collide with his own.
For now, the reported ouster remains a reported plan, not an announced decision. Still, if the board follows through, the man who helped power the AI boom may ultimately lose his job over a very human failure of judgment.
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