Nvidia's board held urgent talks Wednesday night after news broke that CEO Jensen Huang had a romantic relationship with Kimberly Powell, the chipmaker's vice-president of healthcare. Powell has worked at Nvidia for more than 18 years.
The revelation compounds an earlier scandal. On Sunday, Huang admitted to an affair with Alice Huang, an executive at Megaspeed, a Singapore-based Nvidia customer. US officials believe Alice Huang is a Chinese intelligence asset recruited by China's Ministry of State Security.
The board this week hired a former federal prosecutor to investigate Huang's affair with the suspected spy. The board has so far backed Huang to remain as CEO, but directors could require him to step back from duties while investigations proceed, or push for his immediate departure.
Nvidia's annual reports and corporate governance paperwork have included no specific reference to succession planning and set out no details for how it would replace its CEO in an emergency.
Nvidia's stock dropped 8.6 percent in after-hours trading after the New York Times and Wall Street Journal reported on the relationship with Powell and the board's potential ousting of Huang. Nasdaq 100 futures dropped about 1 percent in evening trading.
The FBI is investigating, according to Trump, who said Monday that he supports Huang and called him "a high-quality person." Elon Musk replied on X that hiring Huang "would be an honor." Senior Republicans and Democrats have called for congressional investigations into Huang.