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Comments (314)

• irthomasthomas
  Nvidia is one of the most critical strategic assets in the USA today, underpinning economic dominance and national defence. Leadership at this level usually operates under an implicit shield. Normal procedure would be to cover-up. A sudden loss of Nvidia's founder and CEO at this juncture is a blow to American strategic posture and a windfall to China.I think the real story is not the affair, which was already reported in asian media in 2024, but what specific catalyst broke that protective shield and made continued containment untenable.
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  at1as
  If this had happened at a more recent founder-led tech company, the board would have far less practical independenceDual-class share structures have become the defacto standard for founder led companies, giving founders disproportionate (even majority) voting power.Someone like Zuckerberg effectively controls the board and would be extraordinarily difficult to oust against his wishes (absent some exceptional legal intervention or a decision to step aside)
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  threecheese
  This is kinda huge; my layperson view is that Jensen has been responsible for their long term technology strategy, which requires deep understanding of so much outside of the business domain. I'm not exactly thrilled that they are "eating the world" (hf purchase had me bent out of shape, for example), but they've undeniably executed on some long term complex shit. Who could take his place?
• karimf
  Related: Jensen Huang Said to Have Had Relationship with Nvidia Executive https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50459321
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  WheelsAtLarge
  Large companies always have a backup plan in case the CEO needs to be replaced. What usually happens in these cases is that a new CEO will be named. That new CEO will focus on maximizing the company's earnings while neglecting the tech. And the company will be an earnings winner for the next few years.He's out as CEO but he'll continue to be a force at Nvidia. If the new CEO is smart, he'll keep him in the company, but it will be hard since Huang will be seen as the company's leader and it will be very hard for Huang to act any other way.
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  CyberMacGyver
  This doesn’t bode well for Anthropic’s IPO indirectly, due to whole AI industry being propped up largely by Nvidia’s circular investment. Also there’s likely a big overlap of institutional investors who are both NVDA and ANT investors and will now likely seek to dump ANT at the opening bell.
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  ferguess_k
  I wonder what happens to NVDA afterwards. People say Jensen is NVDA or at least he has a lot of controls over the company. I guess they finally found the right time (very bad midterm) and the right opportunity (mistress as Chinese spy).I even wonder whether some elements within the Chinese government has a hand in it -- not (only) the mistress part but the ousting part.
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  giantfrog
  Is there any reason why this will actually change the fundamentals of Nvidia's business so long as 5080s go for as much as a used car and the entire world wants H200s? Even if they lose an extremely hands-on CEO, they're selling a very expensive product with extremely high global demand.
• hoppp
  Jensen made Nvidia. He named it, he built it from nothing with 2 other founders.Ousting him is pretty much the worst case scenario for the company.
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  ProblemExplorer
  If Nvidia is going to fire Jensen Huang, my question is whether Jensen will be allowed to start another "Nvidia".I hope he's allowed to do so. He now knows how not to get trapped into a tactically targeted honeypot, he knows the ins and outs of a GPU fab business plus he has all the connections.This minus all the cruft and legacy overhead of a company as old as Nvidia. I'm now hoping he gets fired.
• droidjj
  NVDA down almost 8% in after-hours trading.https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/NVDA/
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  int32_64
  What is the endgame of this completely cumbersome and obvious CIA journalist and intelligence community rollout of this narrative surrounding Jensen and Nvidia? Why would they nuke the credibility of America's only AI chip company and hand the future of AI to China? Do they actually think this will gain them control over AI?https://x.com/ChinaSelect/status/2120253050845593723
• allen3
  Fired with cause or stepping down (most likely stepping down)>Interim CEO named> Jensen flew too close to sun and got burned. Board investigations will put everything on Jensen and they will turn that chapter over. Much more information will come out. His wife I will divorce him as well. This whole thing is more political than anything else. Who leaked all of this is my biggest question. Nvidia should be fine in the mid term, but unstable in the short term.
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  mthewood
  This is overblown; nvda is a mature company jensen has set the right bets forward so it's just a matter in who the successor is. In terms of revenue impact, assuming megaspeed accounted for ~20% of sales (rumored estimate) then game optimal move is to have OAI/ANT pick those sales up. We will hear about a transition plan probably around earnings.
• aanet
  I still recall, as a young engineer (1999) working in a high-flying startup outside of Boston -- bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and full of naive optimism -- I flew to Houston in late '99 to demo a fabulous optical networking switch to ENRON, all the while thinking why in the world would ENRON want to be in the business of networking. Ended up selling them a TON of very expensive equipment.It all unwound a few months later, much to my chagrin (and my lost stock options, obviously).Recall that most bubbles do not pop due to one, key material cause. Instead, they pop due to adjacent troubles that, in turn, lead to cascading effects.That was true of:- LTCM failure (1998; Thailand and other SE Asian countries defaulted);- 2000 market crash (dot-coms crash, then telecom crash of 2001);- 2008-2010 financial crisis (mortgage backed securities); ... and so many others before these.It's entirely possible that NVDA, despite earning $$$$, could unwind the circular funding within the ecosystem (the very crux of telecom market crash of 2001)
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  blueSky1989
  Did he break any law?Did he circumvent export restrictions?If not, replacing him would be a mistake for Nvidia. I also fear that it would endanger open weight models in America.
• LarsDu88
  He would absolutely be fired if he were in any role, but as CEO cofounder, it's hard not to attribute Nvidia's success to his leadership.The thing is, this is just what's been reported. There's almost certainly more going on if 2 affairs are public disclosure. If there is a sexual harassment angle here as well, he's toast.
• aanet
  I take no joy in noting that personality-driven companies are notably at the mercy of the vagaries of the key-man in the key-man risk clause... :-/That's a tautology, of course. And the board should have been doing its job handling the key man in questionIt's most obvious in hindsight, obviously. Across the history of such governance debacles.
• tom910
  It will be a huge mistake for Nvidia
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  biggestriverman
  So what happens if this actually goes through? Everyone switches their hardware spend to which other providers?TPUs and AWS's Trainium seem to be at least in the ballpark of being competitive but does that matter at all?
• csense
  So his girlfriend's a spy.Did he know she was a spy?Did he give her any secrets?Did he break up with her after finding out she's a spy?Was she trained as a spy and sent to entrap him specifically? Or did she form a relationship with him, then get told by the Chinese Communist Party "Xi wants you to steal him some secrets from your boyfriend. This is an offer you can't refuse; spy for us or your family in China will be beaten, jailed or worse"?Is he a victim or an asset? Is she a willing patriotic spy for China, or a victim of blackmail from the Chinese Communist Party? Has she been arrested as a spy, or did she make it to the Chinese embassy before the story broke?My feeling is he shouldn't be ousted if he took the honey but didn't fall for the trap. OTOH if he passed her company secrets, that's presumably a fireable offense for anyone lower on the totem pole; it's only fair for a CEO to get fired for the same.
• Alien1Being
  China wins again The Guoanbu ( Guojia Anquan Bu (国家安全部) China's spy agency ) is subtle.Honeytrap.Reveal the information to a trusted journalist.Destroy Huang's credibility.Force his resignation.Damage Nvidia.China moves further in the AI game.Game set and match. Sounds like this might have been China's real goal.
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  EmX_3000
  The possible security implications of this entire affair (affairs now) can't be overstated. That hardware's in the most secret of facilities, computing very classified workloads for very very serious customers. Not the goofy AI heads, I'm talking about the military and intelligence communities in many nations.Hopefully this teaches the market to migrate away from proprietary CUDA and NVIDIA and their proprietary drivers.
• dogscatstrees
  Some of these main narratives just don't add up. If the end goal was to get chips, why is China blocking those H200s and it's stuck on port.There's a different angle here worth listening to: https://youtu.be/IC3Kh40dEQY
• yakbarber
  Huh I wonder if the true goal of the spy was to disrupt Nvidia by getting him fired, slowing them down, not stealing secrets.
• anon
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• zhyder
  It's interesting how some of the smartest people can still make some of the dumbest mistakes. So my optimistic feeling: we're all similarly enough capable of smart and dumb things. But my pessimistic feeling: our intelligence isn't fundamentally better than LLMs in avoiding dumbest mistakes
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  u1hcw9nx
  The only issue is finding replacement, Only 5 days to earnings.
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  whatever1
  Who wanted him dead? This is the question that is still open.
• saberience
  He’s not gonna end up leaving. This is rubbish.
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  justinai6
  Honestly, I hope this doesn’t play out in a rushed way. Evaluating this is the board’s top duty. It’s critical, and healthy, for them to weigh what’s best for all NVDA stakeholders.Obviously, the affairs are a very serious issue, but the investigation needs to determine whether there were any security conflict of interest breachesLet’s be clear: any abuse of power involving related-party relationships is wrong. Jensen should not get a “free pass” just because he’s Jensen. This is very serious.Jensen’s leadership of the broader company is unparalleled, and replacing him would be nearly impossible. That step should only be taken when it’s extremely clear there is no other option. Even if the board does replace him, that brings significant risk, not just to NVIDIA but to all the other businesses connected to it. I hope a warning shot across the bow is enough for him to clean things up so everyone can get back to focusing on the work.As for which way the board rules, the details are all that matter. When boards react emotionally, before a thorough investigation and before they have the full picture, they make bad decisions. They shouldn’t rush. They should investigate and dig into every detail.Then make a decision. These decisions will carry enormous weight.None of us really know the details. NVIDIA board: do your job and take it very seriously. Deliberately measure three times, cut once. Don’t spectate. The public likes/wants Hollywood drama, but what we really need is good corporate governance.
• 2OEH8eoCRo0
  Finally some sanity. He should have resigned.
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  tayo42
  Should have sold at 220 ughBut there's no real competitors still? Even for the medium term?
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  thrownawaysz
  .
• anon
  undefined
• sick_of_slop
  [dead]
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  jawiggins
  From the NYT Story:> During the conference, Nvidia executives were at a nearby hotel for meetings. Mr. Huang and Ms. Powell were seen being affectionate at the hotel. One bystander captured the interaction on their phone, three people briefed on the incident said.> Mr. Huang’s security witnessed the bystander with their phone and sequestered them, the people said. They made the person an offer to sign a nondisclosure agreement.Well, at least there will be one way to make money after AI takes my job...Jokes aside, I would expect we will soon learn there is more. Given that Nvidia was vouching for Megaspeed while exporting those chips, I still think there's a reasonable chance Jensen ends up in jail over this. Not large, but possible.
• thr0waway001
  Note to self: if a hot chick ever shows interest in me and I'm not that attractive then be on my guard.
• jnaina
  So Jensen also had an affair with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of health care, who is also married.Looks like both Nvidia GPUs and Nvidia CEO have Single Instruction Multiple Threads (SIMT) architecture.
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  achandra03
  Mr. President a second Jensen affair has hit the tower
• class3shock
  Good riddance. All these csuite people think they are so uniquely capable but if he gets kicked out nothing will change except we'll, hopefully, hear less about jackets at tech presentations.Also to all the people saying how terrible this will be, would you really want someone running your company who can't keep his word to his wife? Maybe it is a quaint idea in 2026 but I think people who break their word shouldn't be trusted, particularly to be in positions of power.
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  minimaxir
  This is certainly fast after the NYT article on his second affair. I suspect this was in the works after the original affair + export scandal.
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  bigwheels
  Macro: Is this political subterfuge to distract us from other things like criminal government officials? Spiteful payback for losing the mid-terms?
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  benguild
  This is the most American thing ever
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  mmmmmbop
  I hope it was worth it.
• golbez9
  It's Joever
• Stevvo
  Hard to imagine this happening. Curious if he will pull off a coup like Sam Altman.
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  dabinat
  Interesting that the thing that might pop the AI stock bubble isn’t anything to do with the technology at all but a good old-fashioned sex scandal.
• cft
  That was probably the Chinese intelligence intent, to destroy Nvidia this way. The tools are going for it.
• anon
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• 44mkultra69
  Steve Bannon ( et al., himself already having done the job now serving by rolling release AI proxy ) Trump move. Dunno who invented it but it works
• ares623
  My tinfoil hat theory is that this is all orchestrated. They knew about the affair for months, but withheld it. My theory is that with the midterms results, rather than risk facing accountability as things unravel "naturally", they have this big bombshell as a "get out of blame free" card. That way everyone can collectively say "It wasn't _my_ fault things fell apart. I was doing my best, honest!"
• Metacelsus
  "Nvidia" was named for envy, one of the 7 deadly sins. Maybe his next company will be "Luxuria"?
• LightBug1
  I still don't understand why Jensen didn't just offer the lady involved a horse.I mean, that's acceptable these days isn't it?
• snvzz
  Seems the sort of rumor anyone could produce.
• aanet
  This is how the market tanks...SMH
• user-
  it would be ironic if this is how the AI 'bubble' pops.Irattional things continue to be irrational i guess
• chad_strategic
  Tomorrow's opening headline: US Gov to buy NVIDIA and merge with Intel.The US taxpayer wins./s
• mrandish
  Any ousting will probably be for having an affair with a direct report. At many companies, having an 'inappropriate relationship with a customer' isn't a policy violation unless there's also evidence of undue influence, so it's more conditional and complicated. Whereas just the existence of an inappropriate relationship with a direct report is a serious violation.From an HR and legal perspective, if Alice was a spy, Jensen was arguably the targeted 'victim' of a foreign intelligence operation. While it was certainly very dumb and negligent, it may not have been a policy violation or may only have been a violation of company policies like mishandling confidential information or not following IT security policies. Those aren't usually "Fire the CEO Now" things, while slamming the sheets with a direct report absolutely requires some kind of immediate action.The real question is who wants Jensen gone? Because the first leak was clearly intentional and reportedly placed by 'senior White House sources', citing a confidential NSC report. Now the second leak of the inappropriate affair happens immediately after. This was a designed sequence. Both of the underlying events are several months old. Given the facts, I think the most likely source is 'China Trade/AI Hawks' in the White House (possibly the NSC). The reasoning being that Jensen has generally been trying to minimize restrictions on selling AI to China (which is, arguably, part of his job).
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  xiphias2
  It looks like the midterm elections are working, politicians really don't want Chinese models they can't control to be trained.I don't agree with everything David Sachs says on the All in Podcast, but it looks like it's about political control over all frontier AI models from democrats.
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  dcgudeman
  Affair or not, this is a tragedy for American technology.
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  matsemann
  Why are all the tech overlords scum people? Do they become that way with power, money and fame, or is it a certain kind of person from the start that achieves these things?I'm scared about how this in turn shapes society.
• whyenot
  The reports that he had a second affair with a subordinate, if true, are disgusting and would lead to termination at any other company. He should not get a pass. How someone who has had so much success could have such poor judgement is a mystery to me. It’s sad, he accomplished so much.
• debo_
  Well, the good news is this means he should be well primed to become the next Republican presidential candidate.
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  galkk
  Unless there’s an evidence of him being compromised, this is crazy. I’m total outsider and don’t know Nvidia copropare rule machinery, but from perceived perspective that feels like significant blow to the company.I expect shit show funnier than when OpenAI tried to put Altman with same result.
• anon
  undefined
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  blahblaher
  Nvidia is Jensen. If he's out, NVidia crashes and takes the AI bubble with it
• elmer2
  It:s because he's close to Trump.
• waffletower
  I wonder if Trump will retaliate against Nvidia. Neither (firing, retaliating) would be good for the world economy.
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  rvz
  The NYT reports that Huang was caught on video with this second affair when they were together in San Jose.Seems like this video and the first affair with the spy was a classic blackmail operation used against him as I said before [0] and Huang likely said no to the wrong person.It is over.[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50417105
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  mrandish
  [flagged]
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  lifeisloving
  [flagged]