Nvidia shares fall 4% as board probes CEO Jensen Huang

Shares of Nvidia Corp. fell about four per cent Monday after the chipmaker’s board opened an independent investigation into chief executive Jensen Huang, whose relationship with a businesswoman has drawn scrutiny from U.S. intelligence officials, according to media reports.

Nvidia said in a statement Sunday that its board launched the review after reports that Huang was the target of a “foreign intelligence effort,” CNBC reported. The company said Huang “fully supports the review and has committed to cooperating with it.”

The reports, published by The New York Times and the Financial Times, said U.S. intelligence agencies believe an executive at Singapore-based cloud company Megaspeed has been passing information to Beijing. Neither Nvidia nor Huang has confirmed that claim. China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said Monday that the “so-called Chinese spy narrative” is unsubstantiated, Reuters reported.

In an email to staff, Huang acknowledged an extramarital affair. “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, according to CNBC. He said he had “fallen short” of his responsibility to colleagues, the board, partners and shareholders.

The board has said it has no reason to believe national security or Nvidia secrets were compromised, according to reports from several outlets. A company spokesperson said Huang is committed to continuing to lead Nvidia without interruption.

Analysts were divided on how much the episode matters for the company. Dan Ives, senior managing director at Yorkville Ives & Co., told CNBC that talk of replacing Huang is “comedy” and that Nvidia remains two to three years ahead of China in artificial intelligence chips. He also said the investigation creates “huge uncertainty” for investors, who are asking whether Huang stays on as CEO.

Joachim Klement, an investment strategist at Panmure Liberum, said the impact so far appears contained to Nvidia. He said that if Huang’s position were endangered, Nvidia might cut back on supporting other companies, which could spread to other semiconductor stocks.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Sunday that he considers Huang “an honorable guy” but had not spoken to him about the investigation. Sequoia partner Shaun Maguire also defended Huang in a post on X.

Other chipmakers rose Monday. CNBC reported that Broadcom gained nine per cent and Advanced Micro Devices rose 11 per cent, as tech stocks rebounded from losses last week, when investors reassessed the data-centre buildout after Democrats won control of Congress.

The Nvidia news lands as Canadian investors are already watching artificial intelligence stocks closely. The S&P/TSX composite index fell 736 points on Nov. 5 as an AI-stock rout reached Toronto, as we reported. The TSX recovered on Monday, climbing 0.9 per cent as banks and gold miners led, according to our market report. Ottawa also announced last month it would invest up to $1.6 billion in Cohere, the Toronto AI company that competes for the same computing hardware Nvidia supplies.

Nvidia is scheduled to report third-quarter earnings on Nov. 17 and will hold a major conference in Washington at the end of the month, CNBC reported.

If you find reporting like this useful, consider supporting Canada News Media, an independent Canadian newsroom with no corporate parent.