Second affair report deepens crisis for Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang

Nvidia board under pressure as Huang faces second affair claim

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is facing fresh scrutiny after the New York Times reported a second alleged extramarital relationship, this time with Kimberly Powell, the company’s vice president of health care, TechCrunch and Axios, via Yahoo Finance report.

The report lands on top of an existing crisis. Huang told staff in a company email, “I was unfaithful to my wife,” after the Times reported on October 29 that he had a close relationship with a suspected Chinese spy. His email named no one.

The new allegation rests on five company employees. They told the Times that Huang and Powell, who reports to him and is married, were filmed “being affectionate at a San Jose, Calif., hotel” during a March conference. Huang’s security team allegedly offered the bystander a nondisclosure agreement.

Nvidia declined to comment, Powell did not respond, and Huang has not publicly addressed it. None of this is confirmed.

Three stakes stand out. On governance, the Times says Nvidia discourages superior-subordinate relationships, and the board already has an independent probe under way. The Wall Street Journal reported it was preparing to consider Huang’s future, per Interesting Engineering. Georgetown’s Peter Jaworski told Axios, “You can’t have a relationship like this with a direct report.”

On markets, shares fell nearly 8% after hours. On politics, House Republicans say Congress is “gearing up to subpoena” Huang over the spy claims.