Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang has acknowledged an affair with Alice Huang, a former Megaspeed executive who has been suspected of acting as a Chinese spy. The revelation came after the company confirmed on Sunday that its board had opened an independent investigation. Even so, the board said it continued to have confidence in Huang.
Investors were not convinced. Nvidia shares fell as much as 8.8% on Monday and closed down about 4.3%, wiping roughly $190 billion from the market value of the most valuable company on the 2026 Fortune 500. For most chief executives, that kind of week ends with a resignation. At Nvidia, the path is not so simple.
Why firing Huang is hard
Two things make removing Huang difficult. First, the board may be reluctant to push out the founder who has led the chipmaker since 1993 and turned it into the dominant force in artificial intelligence hardware. Second, there is no obvious person to replace him.
“In most cases of scandal at major corporations, the CEO is either replaced or put on leave while investigations are carried out and appropriate responses decided,” said Jo-Ellen Pozner, an associate professor of management at Santa Clara University’s Leavey School of Business.
Jason Schloetzer, an associate professor at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, told Fortune he expects a different outcome: “I don’t expect a ‘stay or go’ decision. It will be more like a ‘stay, with less.'” That could mean appointing a clear second-in-command, being more open about succession planning, and reshuffling board seats to signal stronger oversight.
A flat structure with no heir
Nvidia’s management chart is unusually flat. Huang has dozens of direct reports and few layers of hierarchy, keeping himself at the center of almost every major decision. Pozner calls the structure “an extremely unusual organizational structure” for a company of Nvidia’s size.
That design may have helped Huang prevent internal political factions, but it has also made it harder for potential successors to emerge. Promoting an insider now would be risky because investors, regulators, and business partners would demand credibility and stability. Bringing in an outsider carries its own dangers, especially when the company is navigating the AI boom and intense geopolitical pressure.
A board tied to the CEO
The board’s willingness to challenge Huang is also in question. Nvidia has no independent board chair. Instead, Huang works with lead independent director Stephen Neal to set meeting agendas, while management prepares the materials shown to directors.
Of the 11 board members, three, including Huang, have served since the company was founded in 1993. Another director joined in 1997, and Mark Stevens served from 1993 to 2006 before returning in 2008. Although all directors except Huang are classified as independent, Pozner said their long relationships and shared financial success could make it hard for them to act as true outsiders.
"They've become billionaires because of their affiliation and ownership of this company," she said. "It is unclear that a captive board like this has the heart to question, censure, or sanction Huang."
Pressure from Washington and investors
The controversy has produced rare bipartisan agreement in Washington. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Jim Banks issued a joint statement calling for answers from Nvidia and tighter restrictions on advanced AI chip exports to China.
President Trump said the FBI was looking into the nature of the relationship. A proposed shareholder class action alleges that Nvidia and Huang misled investors about his ties to Alice Huang. For now, the company is standing behind its CEO, with a spokesperson telling Axios that Huang remains committed to continuing in the role.
Some investors feel the same way. Michael Monaghan, a partner at Founder ETFs, told Axios that his firm would sell its Nvidia holdings if Huang left, calling him in some ways "irreplaceable." Prediction markets suggest the market agrees: Polymarket traders put the odds of Huang resigning or being removed by year-end at 16%.
What comes next
The likeliest outcome may be a tighter leash rather than a clean break. The board has asked a committee of independent directors, assisted by outside counsel, to oversee the investigation. If it finds that Huang was not candid with directors, the calculus could change. Boards often remove CEOs over candor issues, Schloetzer noted.
Pozner suggested that several long-serving directors could step down to accept accountability for any governance failure, making room for outside directors with the distance needed to manage a succession. Without that change, she argued, the board may not be equipped to choose the right replacement if it ever has to.
For now, Nvidia remains both the most valuable company in America and a company whose leadership future has suddenly become uncertain. How the board handles the next few months will shape not only Huang's career but also the confidence of investors, customers, and regulators around the world.
