Key Points
- Two people familiar with the matter told Reuters Huang had an intimate relationship with a second employee.
- Huang resigned Thursday after reports of two other extramarital affairs involving Nvidia staff.
- The disclosure widens a leadership crisis already touching national-security questions at the world's leading AI chipmaker.
The latest:
Ousted Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang had an intimate relationship with a second employee, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters. The account adds a third woman to a sequence of relationships that culminated in his resignation on Thursday. Reuters said it is not naming the employee, and attempts to reach her were unsuccessful.
Details:
- The sourcing: Reuters attributed the account of the additional relationship to two people familiar with the matter, and said it is withholding the woman’s identity. Efforts to reach her did not succeed, and the news agency did not describe the period during which the relationship took place.
- The resignation: Huang stepped down on Thursday following reports of two other extramarital affairs, according to Reuters. His departure removes the executive most closely identified with Nvidia’s rise, and no account of a successor or transition arrangement was set out alongside the resignation.
- The first woman: One of the two previously reported relationships was with Alice Huang, whom US intelligence suspects of being a Chinese spy, Reuters reported. The agency said Alice Huang could not be reached for comment, and it did not detail the basis of the intelligence suspicion.
- The second woman: The other relationship was with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of health care, according to Reuters. Powell remains identified by her corporate title in the reporting, and no statement from her on her position at the company has been issued.
- Huang’s admission: Jensen Huang acknowledged an affair in a statement issued on November 8, after reports of his relationship with Alice Huang surfaced, Reuters said. His statement did not name the woman involved and did not address whether other relationships existed.
- No comment: Nvidia declined to comment on the latest account. Powell, Jensen Huang and a representative for the company’s board did not reply to requests for comment from Reuters, leaving the board’s handling of the matter undescribed publicly.
- The security angle: The suspicion attached to Alice Huang places the episode beyond a corporate governance question. Nvidia designs the chips at the center of US export controls on advanced computing, making any suspected foreign-intelligence contact at the executive level a matter for Washington as well as shareholders.
- The byline: The reporting was filed from San Francisco on November 12 by Max A. Cherney, Krystal Hu, Alexandra Alper and Deepa Seetharaman, and was updated after publication as the account of the additional relationship emerged.
Background:
Nvidia is the dominant supplier of the processors used to train advanced artificial-intelligence systems, and Jensen Huang co-founded the company and led it through that expansion. His conduct and his departure therefore carry weight well beyond one executive’s personal affairs.
Between the lines:
The sequence matters more than any single relationship. Huang resigned after two affairs became public, and a third account surfaced within days, which suggests the disclosures are arriving faster than the company can respond to them. Nvidia’s refusal to comment, and the board representative’s silence, leave unanswered what directors knew about relationships involving a sitting chief executive and employees reporting into his company.
What’s next
Watch for Nvidia’s naming of a permanent successor, any board statement on what directors knew and when, and whether US authorities publicly address the intelligence suspicion surrounding Alice Huang.
