Jensen Huang's position as the CEO of Nvidia looks increasingly uncertain with new details of extra-marital affairs emerging. The board is meeting soon to decide whether to oust him from the company he co-founded in 1993, according to reports.
Reports say Jensen had another extramarital affair with a senior executive of Nvidia. This is in addition to the relationship he had with a Chinese national Alice Huang, who was allegedly recruited as an intelligence asset by the Chinese government.
Jensen has been the face of the chip company for 33 years. But recent developments have put him on sticky wicket with respect to his position in the company.
While the Nvidia board has already launched an investigation into the affair, a decision regarding Jensen's future in the company may be taken soon.
Artificial intelligence is a much sought-after techniology today, and Nvidia has been the unquestioned leader in this space, with its advanced GPUs (graphic processing units). The alleged relationship with the Chinese national enabled an illegal transfer of this technology to China, reports indicate.
Nvidia is engaged with a technology that is increasingly being seen as a national security asset, and the United States is keen to ensure that other countries do not get complete access to the technology. While China has emerged as a key rival in the AI race, it still lacks the edge compared to the US.
The role of the US government comes into play here. Nvidia will come under scrutiny from the committee of the Congress, which is likely to question the company if its technology was illegally transferred to China.
Jensen has transformed Nvidia from a niche gaming graphics company into a hardware and software powerhouse of the global AI industry. He is seen as an influential individual determining the contours of any policy with regard to the AI industry. He is also well-networked with various heads of states across the world.
This brings us to the crucial question in the wake of an exit: who will succeed Jensen Huang?
Reports indicate that there has been no succession planning at Nvidia as Jensen operates a flat management structure with around 60 direct reportees. It must be noted that both his children, Madison Huang and Spencer Huang, and his son-in-law Nico Caprez work at the company.