Nvidia shares fell in after-hours trading on Monday. The drop came after the company started an internal investigation into its chief executive, Jensen Huang.
The probe is looking at whether Huang was targeted by a foreign intelligence operation, TechCentral reported, citing Reuters. The investigation was announced on Sunday.
Trading on the Hyperliquid exchange and the Blue Ocean system showed Nvidia at around US$178.60 a share. That was down more than 4% from Friday’s Nasdaq close of $186.64.
“The market’s probably telling you now this does no favours to the stock whatsoever in a time when there’s a lot of conjecture as to the build-out of data centres,” said Chris Weston, head of research at brokerage Pepperstone in Melbourne.
Weston said he did not think Huang would be replaced. He said that if investors believed Huang was going to step down, it “would be an absolute bloodbath” for the stock.
The internal probe followed a media report about Huang’s close relationship with a Chinese businesswoman. The report said she allegedly passed information to Beijing.
The New York Times reported last month that Huang had a relationship with Alice Huang, a former executive of Singapore company Megaspeed. She is not related to him. The newspaper reported that US authorities investigated her and concluded she was a Chinese intelligence asset.
Huang told Nvidia staff that he had been unfaithful to his wife. He did not give details of the relationship. Megaspeed did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
The matter also reached South Korea. Huang’s daughter Madison Huang, who is an Nvidia executive, cancelled a planned visit to Seoul for an Nvidia conference. This was according to companies she had been due to meet.
Billionaire investor Bill Ackman, founder of Pershing Square Capital Management, called Huang an “incredible human” in a post on X. He said that if “indeed this is more than an affair, then it is obviously a real problem”.
“I am hoping for a simple affair, not a risk to our national security,” Ackman added.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk replied “I agree” to a post by Sequoia partner Shaun Maguire. Maguire said Huang “did something incredibly dumb” but that “Jensen is irreplaceable for America’s AI leadership”.
US President Donald Trump said on Sunday he had not spoken to Huang about the claims. He called Huang a fine person. “I hope everything’s fine. He’s done such an incredible job,” Trump said.
The New York Times reported that Trump was briefed on the intelligence findings about a year ago and chose not to act. Asked about this, Trump said: “No, I don’t think so. I think he’s an honourable guy.”
Shares in Nvidia’s main Asian chip suppliers rose on Monday after a sell-off of AI stocks the week before. TSMC jumped 6.5%, while Samsung Electronics climbed 2.9% and SK Hynix gained 4.7%.
Source: this article is based on reporting by TechCentral. Image: TechCentral. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice Technology desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Werner Jacobs covers technology for Tzaneen Voice. Werner reports on mobile networks, data prices, internet access, smartphones, apps, AI, cybersecurity and South African tech companies. Each story explains what a new product, price change or policy means for ordinary users in South Africa.