New Delhi: For investors watching Nvidia’s shares tumble, the question was not just whether the world’s most valuable AI chipmaker could survive without Jensen Huang, its longtime chief executive, but whether the next fall in its stock price might be a good time to buy in. Online, jokes about waiting for the “next dip” to buy Nvidia shares competed with memes about Huang’s alleged affairs, turning a corporate crisis into an internet spectacle.
What began as reports of infidelity involving Huang quickly escalated into a corporate and national-security crisis. One of the women linked to Huang was described by US intelligence officials as a suspected Chinese intelligence asset, prompting an independent investigation by the company. Within days, Huang had resigned, Nvidia had lost hundreds of billions of dollars in market value and lawmakers in Washington were demanding answers.
Huang’s resignation on 12 November brought an abrupt end to his 33-year tenure at the company he co-founded in 1993. Nvidia’s board has appointed chief financial officer Colette Kress as interim CEO while it searches for a permanent successor.
The controversy began with reports that Huang had been unfaithful to his wife, Lori Mills Huang, and was involved with Alice Huang, a businesswoman associated with Singapore-based data-centre company Megaspeed International. US intelligence officials reportedly suspected Alice Huang of passing information to Beijing and seeking to influence Nvidia’s chip sales to China.
On 8 November, Huang acknowledged the infidelity in a message to Nvidia employees.
“I was unfaithful to my wife. My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did. I am deeply sorry,” he wrote, adding that he accepted responsibility and would cooperate with the board’s investigation.
The situation escalated when The New York Times reported Huang’s second alleged affair, with Kimberly Powell, the Nvidia vice-president for healthcare who reported directly to him. Now, Reuters has reported that he had a third affair too, with another employee of Nvidia.
A possible billion-dollar divorce
Huang’s departure has brought his family and finances under scrutiny. He has been married to Lori since 1985. The two met as laboratory partners while studying electrical engineering at Oregon State University and got married eight years before Nvidia was founded.
Lori was also an engineer in the semiconductor industry but put her career on hold to raise their two children, Madison and Spencer, as Huang built Nvidia into one of the world’s most valuable companies. Both children now work at Nvidia.
Madison is a senior director of product and technical marketing for the company’s physical AI platforms, while Spencer is a director of product management for robotics software. According to company filings cited in media reports, their total compensation for the 2026 financial year was approximately 1.23 million and 1.32 million dollars respectively.
Lori also co-runs the Jen-Hsun and Lori Huang Foundation, which has approximately 9.1 billion in net assets. The family’s wealth is closely tied to Nvidia shares, with the couple serving as co-trustees of family trusts holding hundreds of millions of shares. This has fuelled speculation about what a divorce could mean financially. Huang’s fortune has been estimated at approximately 145-155 billion.
The duo live in California, a community-property state where most income, assets, and debts acquired by either spouse during a marriage are legally considered joint property owned equally by both partners. Since the couple got married in 1985, before Nvidia was founded, some estimates suggest Lori could theoretically be entitled to half their marital wealth, or approximately 72.5-80 billion.
Also read: Jensen Huang had a third affair with another Nvidia employee, says report
Washington’s national-security concerns
The scandal’s wider political significance, however, comes from the alleged Chinese intelligence connection, especially since Nvidia is central to the US AI boom, with its advanced processors powering AI development across the world.
Reuters reported allegations that Huang’s relationship with Alice Huang helped facilitate at least $7.5 billion in Nvidia chip shipments to China. The allegations have raised questions about US export restrictions on advanced semiconductors, particularly as Washington attempts to limit Beijing’s access to technology that could strengthen its AI and military capabilities.
Singapore has separately investigated Alice Huang and Megaspeed over suspected false declarations involving server shipments. However, its authorities said the investigation was not for espionage and that there was insufficient evidence that she had committed an offence. Nvidia too has said it has no reason to believe that national security or company secrets were compromised.
US President Donald Trump initially stood by Huang, describing him as an “honorable guy” who had “done an amazing job for our country”. After the resignation, Trump took to Truth Social to suggest a replacement.
“NOW THAT Nvidia CEO JENSEN HUANG, who has done a fantastic job, has resigned, there is only one man to take his place—TIM COOK of Apple. A Legend replaces a Legend!” he wrote.
Congressional reactions were less sympathetic. Lawmakers sought answers from Huang and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, citing “serious concerns about our national security”. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Congress must investigate whether Nvidia had put US national security at risk.
Nvidia’s 600 billion dollar market value wipeout
The financial fallout was immediate. Nvidia shares fell as much as 14 per cent when Wall Street opened on Thursday following the resignation announcement. After recovering some losses, they closed 4.3 per cent lower at $166.19, wiping out approximately $182 billion in market value in a single session.
The decline was part of a wider selloff. The stock had already fallen 9.6 per cent over Monday and Tuesday amid reports about Huang’s personal relationships. By Thursday, Nvidia had lost approximately $490-600 billion in market value over the week, depending on the market snapshot. Its shares were also more than 30 per cent below their record high of $243.37 in October.
The impact extended beyond Nvidia. Reuters reported that shares of its customers, including cloud-computing company CoreWeave and South Korean technology company Naver, were also hit. Chinese technology companies Alibaba and Tencent also saw declines amid concerns about access to Nvidia-powered computing capacity.
The selloff also weighed on US markets. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq fell as investors assessed the implications of uncertainty surrounding the company at the centre of the AI investment boom.
The internet, meanwhile, found its own way of processing the spectacle. In South Korea, investors turned Huang’s private life into material for parody as Nvidia shares slid. AI-generated clips portrayed him as a tragic romantic figure, while social media users joked that the entire episode was dramatic enough to become a film.
For retail investors, however, the running joke was about waiting for the next opportunity to buy Nvidia shares at a lower price. Despite the selloff, the company remains a dominant supplier of AI chips, and some investors see its market position as stronger than the crisis surrounding its founder.
(Edited by Janaki Pande)