Nvidia's stock dropped sharply in US after-hours trading on Wednesday, the South China Morning Post reported. At its worst moment, it was down more than 8 per cent. That cancelled a 2.9 per cent rise earlier in the day. Shares had already lost over 9.5 per cent on Monday and Tuesday. The Wall Street Journal, citing informed sources, said the board was getting ready to remove CEO Jensen Huang. It said the board might meet as soon as Wednesday. The New York Times, citing five people who had worked at Nvidia, said Huang also had an affair with Kimberly Powell, a vice-president who reported to him.
No report says the board has met or decided anything. Nvidia's reply to the Times account is not given. The Post said the board announced an independent investigation on Sunday, after Huang admitted to an extramarital affair. It also noted reports that a foreign intelligence operation had allegedly targeted him. No details of that claim are given.
Brian Colello, an analyst at Morningstar, said the turmoil has not reached Nvidia's financial outlook. He said near- and medium-term demand for its chips remains high. He pointed to Nvidia's CUDA software, plus its hardware and networking design, as reasons customers find it costly to switch. In his view, Nvidia can keep building top data centre products whatever happens to its CEO.