Nvidia’s board is preparing to remove Jensen Huang as chief executive, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, three days after the same board told the public it had confidence in him.
Here is what is established, and what is not:
- The Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that directors are preparing to oust Huang, 63, who co-founded the company in 1993. Reuters, citing an unnamed source, said the board was meeting Wednesday to decide.
- No decision has been announced. A Nvidia spokesperson said, “Jensen is committed to continuing to lead Nvidia as CEO without interruption.”
- Bloomberg reported that the board has been working with an outside firm to identify replacements and is weighing a temporary chief, according to OfficeChai’s summary of that report.
- Nvidia shares fell about 8 percent in after-hours trading, and Reuters put the week’s loss at roughly $600 billion in market value.
Every outlet is repeating the Journal’s line that the board is “preparing.” None has laid out how fast the board’s own position moved, and that speed is the story. We did it ourselves from the public record:
| Day | What happened | What the board said |
|---|---|---|
| Sunday, Nov. 8 | Huang tells employees, “I was unfaithful to my wife.” The board opens an investigation into whether a foreign intelligence service targeted him. | It “retained confidence in his leadership.” |
| Monday, Nov. 9 | A shareholder class action is filed over statements about his relationship with Alice Huang and Nvidia’s dealings with Megaspeed. | Nothing new. |
| Tuesday, Nov. 10 | Board retains former acting U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. | Investigation continues. |
| Wednesday, Nov. 11 | The Journal reports an ouster is being prepared. The New York Times reports a second relationship, with a vice president who reported to him. | Spokesperson: Huang is “committed to continuing to lead.” |
The Question Changed on Wednesday
Sunday’s inquiry asked a security question: was the CEO of the most valuable chip company a target of Chinese intelligence? The answer to that takes months, and a board can wait for it.
Wednesday’s question is a governance one. The Times reported that Huang had a relationship with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of health care, who reported to him, citing five people who worked at the company. Reuters could not verify it, and Nvidia and Powell did not respond to requests for comment. Huang, reached by phone, told the Times, “I don’t think you should be talking to me directly,” and hung up. Treat that account as unconfirmed.
If it holds, it does not need a spy to be a problem. A founder involved with a direct report is the kind of fact boards remove executives over, and it can be established by the independent directors and their lawyers without any intelligence finding at all.
No Plan for the Day This Was Always Going to Come
Analyst Gil Luria said an immediate removal “could be challenging for Nvidia since it does not have a succession plan in place.” Huang owns about 3.6 percent of the stock. The company reported $96.2 billion in revenue for the quarter ended July 26, with $89 billion from data centers. Outside governance experts have floated lead independent director Stephen Neal and CFO Colette Kress as interim options, but Bloomberg did not say whom the board is considering.
That is our view of the real failure here, and it predates any affair. A company this large, this central to American AI, built around one man for 33 years, never wrote down who runs it if he cannot. The board is now doing in four days, with an outside recruiter, what it should have finished years ago. Whatever the board decides, shareholders who lost $600 billion in a week are entitled to ask where that plan was.
Washington Is Part of the Clock
Politics is moving as fast as the board. President Trump said he had not discussed the allegations with Huang and called him “an honorable guy.” Three House Republican committee chairs asked Huang to attend a closed-door briefing by Nov. 18, and Reuters reported a subpoena is possible if he declines. Trump was briefed twice about Alice Huang before he took Huang to Beijing, which is why a vote of confidence from the White House carries less weight than it did a week ago.
Prediction market Kalshi gave an 80 percent chance that Huang leaves before July 2027, per Bloomberg’s account. Treat that as a crowd’s guess, not evidence.
What to Watch
The Journal’s sourcing is anonymous and the board has not acted in public. Watch for an 8-K filing, which would be the first confirmed word, and for whether the independent directors name an interim chief before the markets open Thursday. If Huang stays, the board will have to explain why it was preparing his exit. If he goes, it will have to explain why it had no one ready.