Nvidia board weighs ouster as another CEO affair surfaces

By Olivia Hart

Five Nvidia employees told The New York Times that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Kimberly Powell appeared affectionate on video at a San Jose, California, hotel.

The video was recorded during a conference earlier this year. In its Wednesday report, The New York Times described the pair “being affectionate at a San Jose, Calif., hotel.” Powell serves as Nvidia’s vice president of health care; the outlet said she, like Huang, is married.

The Times’ account points to an alleged extramarital affair involving the chief executive and a direct report. Five colleagues supplied that account. It adds a separate case to Huang’s publicly admitted affair with a woman accused of being a Chinese spy.

That brings Nvidia’s board into the story. The company’s directors have initiated an investigation into Huang’s admitted affair. The Times did not say whether that inquiry extends to the allegations involving Powell.

The reporting also lands directly on a company policy. Like many businesses, Nvidia has rules discouraging superiors from having relationships with employees in subordinate roles. TechCrunch reached out to Nvidia for comment after the second-affair report.

Then comes Congress. Two House Republicans said on Wednesday that Congress is gearing up to subpoena Huang over the spy allegations if he doesn’t voluntarily respond to their summons to a closed-door briefing.

A summons and a subpoena are not the same step. A voluntary response would put Huang before lawmakers behind closed doors; his absence could trigger the threatened congressional action. The source report gave no briefing date and said no subpoena had been issued.

The pressure from Washington now overlaps with pressure from inside the company.

Late Wednesday, after the second-affair reports appeared, The Wall Street Journal reported that Nvidia’s board was preparing to oust Huang. He co-founded the company in 1993.

The account describes a board preparing for a possible leadership change, not a completed dismissal. The source gave no board vote, named successor or termination timetable. Even without those details, Huang faces three simultaneous pressures: an investigation into his admitted affair, the allegations involving Powell and a threatened congressional subpoena over the spy case.

Both reports show scrutiny, not a final finding. The Times cited five employees. The Wall Street Journal cited preparations to remove the co-founder. Neither report supplies a verdict on the second affair or a board decision on his dismissal.

What does this change for Nvidia?

For shareholders, enterprise customers and employees, the immediate change is uncertainty over who will run the company. The source named no successor, disclosed no financial penalty and announced no decision on Huang’s removal. The practical issue is leadership continuity at the top of a company the CEO co-founded in 1993.

For Huang, the next steps are concrete: respond voluntarily to the closed-door briefing and secure the board’s backing if he wants to remain chief executive. For Nvidia, the board must resolve a leadership question that now involves its founder, its health-care vice president and Congress.

The timeline remains incomplete. Earlier this year came the alleged hotel encounter. Wednesday brought the second-affair report and the Republican threats of a subpoena. Late Wednesday brought the report of a board preparing for Huang’s ouster.

That is the sequence investors and customers can watch: a congressional briefing, any formal board action and the company’s next public response.

For the company Huang co-founded in 1993, the immediate question is no longer whether scrutiny exists, but whether his tenure survives it.