Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang is facing fresh allegations of an extramarital relationship, adding to the controversy surrounding his previously admitted affair with Chinese businesswoman Alice Huang, who is being investigated over suspected links to Beijing.
Five people who have worked at the semiconductor giant told The New York Times that the 63-year-old billionaire was also involved with Kimberly Powell, 48, Nvidia’s vice president of healthcare.
The latest revelations emerged as Nvidia’s shares suffered another significant decline, with nearly nine per cent wiped off their value in pre-market trading on Thursday.
The latest fall represents approximately $360 billion in lost market capitalisation.
Five Former Employees Allege Relationship With Senior Executive
According to the five sources, Huang and Powell were seen behaving affectionately at a hotel in San Jose, California, during Nvidia’s annual developer conference in March.
Two of the individuals familiar with the matter said the pair were captured on video during the alleged encounter.
Huang and Powell also attended the Nvidia GTC Conference in Berlin, Germany, towards the end of October.
Around the same period, Powell was seen publicly displaying an engagement ring.
Both executives are married to other people.
The alleged relationship could also raise questions about Nvidia’s internal conduct policies, which instruct employees to avoid circumstances in which personal relationships could create conflicts of interest.
The company’s code of conduct specifically requires employees to avoid situations where their actions conflict with the company’s interests.
Nvidia also states that it promptly investigates reports of misconduct.
When approached by The New York Times about his alleged relationship with Powell, Huang reportedly responded: “I don’t think you should be talking to me directly,” before ending the call.
Hotel Encounter Reportedly Followed Nvidia Conference
Powell joined Nvidia in 2008 and gradually advanced through the company’s leadership structure.
In 2016, she was promoted to senior director of artificial intelligence business development before becoming vice president of healthcare in late 2017, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Her responsibilities include overseeing initiatives that apply Nvidia’s chip technology to higher education and healthcare, particularly medical imaging.
At the company’s March conference in San Jose, Powell delivered a presentation on the potential of artificial intelligence to accelerate developments in healthcare and biology.
Huang also made an unexpected appearance on stage during the event. Photographs from the conference showed the pair raising glasses together.
Sources subsequently told The New York Times that they were affectionate at a nearby hotel.
One person who reportedly witnessed the encounter recorded it on a mobile phone.
However, Huang’s security personnel allegedly noticed the recording and confronted the individual.
The person was reportedly taken aside and subsequently offered an agreement requiring them to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
Nvidia Shares Lose $640 Billion in a Week
The latest allegations have added to the pressure on Nvidia, whose market valuation has suffered substantial losses in recent days.
The company’s shares dropped almost nine per cent in pre-market trading in New York on Thursday, wiping approximately $360 billion from its market value.
That brought the week’s total losses to around $640 billion, representing a decline of approximately 14 per cent.
The stock had already experienced a significant fall following reports of Huang’s relationship with Alice Huang, a Chinese entrepreneur and founder of Megaspeed who is under investigation over alleged links to Chinese intelligence.
Earlier, Nvidia shares had fallen 4.3 per cent by Monday’s close, reducing the company’s market capitalisation by approximately $190 billion.
The company and its chief executive were subsequently sued by shareholders, who accused them of misleading investors about the alleged affair before the resulting controversy affected the stock price.
Nvidia Board Considers Huang’s Future
The controversy has also raised questions about Huang’s position as chief executive.
According to people familiar with the matter who spoke to The Wall Street Journal, Nvidia’s board is preparing to consider removing him from the position.
The board was reportedly planning to meet as early as Wednesday to discuss his future at the company.
Huang co-founded Nvidia in April 1993 and has led its transformation into one of the world’s most valuable technology companies.
His work in artificial intelligence and advanced computing has also attracted attention from US President Donald Trump, who has publicly praised his contributions to the development of what he described as superintelligence.
The Nvidia founder has appeared alongside Trump on several occasions.
Earlier Affair With Alleged Chinese Spy Under Investigation
The latest allegations involving Powell come as Nvidia’s board continues investigating Huang’s admitted relationship with Alice Huang.
The investigation is being led by the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.
Meanwhile, Republican leaders of three influential committees in the US House of Representatives have requested a closed-door briefing with Huang concerning his interactions with the Megaspeed founder.
It remains unclear when the relationship between Huang and Alice Huang began.
However, reports indicate that she was openly discussing her closeness to the Nvidia chief executive as early as June 2024.
At a computer industry trade show in Taipei that month, she reportedly told a group of executives that Huang was a close friend and summoned him to a bar where they were gathered.
According to people who spoke to The Wall Street Journal, Huang arrived just minutes after receiving her message.
Wearing his trademark leather jacket, the Nvidia chief executive joined the executives and spent time with the group.
A photograph from the gathering showed him sitting closely beside Alice Huang.
The pair were also reportedly seen together during another visit to Taipei in May 2025.
At a dinner, they were allegedly observed kissing each other on the cheek and touching one another’s arms.
Other photographs that emerged following the scandal showed them sitting closely together, smiling and raising wine glasses in a toast.
Megaspeed Founder Allegedly Pitched AI Chip Deal to Investors
Alice Huang’s business activities have also attracted scrutiny.
In early 2025, she reportedly approached Chinese-based investors with a proposal involving artificial intelligence chips.
According to two investors who spoke to the Financial Times, she promoted her ability to obtain Nvidia’s highly sought-after graphics processing units and highlighted her commercial relationship with Chinese technology company Alibaba.
She was seeking investment for a data centre project in Southeast Asia estimated to be worth several hundred million dollars.
However, the investors said she did not disclose her relationship with Jensen Huang during the discussions.
US Officials Investigate Suspected Intelligence Links
American officials were reportedly briefed that Alice Huang was working for China’s Ministry of State Security as part of an effort to obtain information about US-made artificial intelligence chips.
The investigation also examined whether she could have attempted to persuade Nvidia to make its most advanced semiconductors available to China.
US officials noted that the Megaspeed founder speaks English fluently and maintains relationships with senior executives across the artificial intelligence chip industry.
Separately, Washington investigated Megaspeed over concerns that the company could have been involved in smuggling advanced hardware into China.
The concerns prompted the US government to ask Nvidia to audit the company last year.
Nvidia initially reported that the hardware under examination had been fully accounted for.
However, records obtained by Bloomberg News reportedly showed that Megaspeed had imported 50,000 more chips than Nvidia had identified in its data centres.
The chipmaker subsequently pledged in December 2025 to revisit Megaspeed’s data centres to conduct further checks.
It remains unclear whether the proposed inspection took place.
Nvidia Denies Knowledge of Investigation Into Megaspeed
Despite Huang’s admission of an affair with Alice Huang, Nvidia has maintained that it was unaware of investigations involving the businesswoman and her company.
The chipmaker also said it had no reason to believe that national security interests or its confidential information had been compromised.
Nvidia confirmed that it had launched an internal investigation to examine all available information surrounding the allegations.
The company added that Huang supported the decision to conduct the investigation.
The latest allegations involving Powell have emerged while the company continues to deal with the financial, regulatory and corporate fallout from the earlier controversy.
