Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia embroiled in a Chinese spy scandal, also had an extramarital relationship with Kimberly Powell, the company's vice president of health care, according to five people who worked at Nvidia and spoke on condition of anonymity. Now, the Wall Street Journal reports that the AI giant's Board of Directors plans to oust Huang from his position.
The post WSJ: Nvidia Board Moves to Oust Jensen Huang as He Faces Allegation of Second Affair appeared first on Breitbart.
Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia embroiled in a Chinese spy scandal, also had an extramarital relationship with Kimberly Powell, the company’s vice president of health care, according to five people who worked at Nvidia and spoke on condition of anonymity. Now, the Wall Street Journal reports that the AI giant’s Board of Directors plans to oust Huang from his position.
The New York Times reports that Powell reports directly to Huang in Nvidia’s corporate structure. The relationship has not been previously reported. The news follows closely on the heels of Huang’s admission that he had an affair with a woman suspected of being a Chinese spy.
Two of the people who worked at the company said Huang and Powell were seen being affectionate at a hotel in San Jose, California, during Nvidia’s GTC developer conference in March. A bystander recorded the interaction on their phone, according to three people briefed on the incident. Huang’s security detail noticed the recording, pulled the bystander aside and offered them a nondisclosure agreement to sign, the people said.
Reached by phone Wednesday and asked about his relationship with Powell, Huang said, “I don’t think you should be talking to me directly.”
Powell joined Nvidia in 2008. The company’s website says she oversees programs that apply Nvidia’s chip technology to higher education and health care, with a focus on medical imaging devices. Her LinkedIn profile shows she was promoted to senior director of artificial intelligence business development in 2016, then became vice president of health care by late 2017. Huang co-founded Nvidia in 1993 and has run it ever since.
Workplace relationships between a CEO and a direct report have ended careers before. Brian Krzanich resigned as Intel’s chief executive in 2018 after acknowledging what he called a “past consensual relationship” with an employee. McDonald’s removed Steve Easterbrook as chief executive in 2019, and later sued him, after learning he had violated company policy by maintaining sexual relationships with multiple employees.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Nvidia’s board is preparing to remove Huang as chief executive, with directors expected to meet as soon as Wednesday.
Who would succeed Huang is not yet clear. He is Nvidia’s largest shareholder, owning about 3.6 percent of the company, and had roughly 60 direct reports. Huang has said he does not believe in succession planning. Nvidia’s latest proxy statement, however, warned that the company is “highly dependent on the services of our longstanding executive team” and that losing members of that team could “hinder our strategic planning, execution, and long-term success.”
Huang’s own daughter is being floated as one name to replace him, appearing on Polymarket’s leaderboard of potential successors.
Read more at the New York Times here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of AI, free speech, and online censorship.
