Nvidia shares fell 6.6% in premarket trading on Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026, after the chipmaker’s board met to decide whether to remove CEO Jensen Huang.[1] The board met on Wednesday evening, and no decision had been announced by early Thursday.[2] Nvidia did not respond to multiple requests for comment from NBC News on Wednesday.[2]
Related: Nvidia Board Prepares to Oust Jensen Huang, WSJ Reports; Shares Drop 7% Late.
What the board is weighing
CNBC confirmed that the board met Wednesday to discuss whether to oust Huang as CEO.[1] The White House was aware of the meeting, one source told NBC News.[2] The Wall Street Journal first reported the meeting.[2]
Nvidia is working with an outside firm to identify candidates who could replace Huang, Bloomberg reported.[3] The company has no obvious successor or succession plan.[3] Huang has said he has about 60 direct reports.[3]
Huang co-founded Nvidia in 1993 and has led it since.[2]
The two reports behind the crisis
On Sunday, Huang admitted to an extramarital affair.[1] The woman, Alice Huang, is an executive at the cloud company Megaspeed, and U.S. intelligence officials believe she is a spy for China, the Financial Times reported.[1] China’s Foreign Ministry rejected the allegations as “purely unsubstantiated and directed at smearing China,” spokesperson Mao Ning said Thursday.[2]
On Wednesday, The New York Times reported that Huang also had a relationship with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of health care, who reports to him.[1] NBC News said it had not confirmed the Times report.[2]
How markets reacted
Nvidia shares fell almost 9% in after-hours trading Wednesday night.[2] The selling followed a 2.9% gain in regular trading Wednesday, when the S&P 500 rose 1.31% to 7,619.38 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.6% to 25,466.19.[4] The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 254.60 points to close at 52,486.49.[4]
Early Thursday, Nasdaq-100 futures fell 0.92% and S&P 500 futures fell 0.45%, while Dow futures traded near flat.[5] Rivals AMD and Broadcom rose 3.9% and 3% before the bell.[1] Intel, Marvell, Arm and Qualcomm traded lower.[1]
The selling spread overseas. Europe’s Stoxx 600 Technology index fell 1.3%, with ASML down 3% and Infineon down 3.8%.[5] South Korea’s Kospi, which is dominated by Nvidia suppliers Samsung and SK Hynix, fell 0.61%.[5]
What analysts said
Bernstein cut its Nvidia price target in half, from $400 to $200.[1] Bernstein senior analyst Stacy Rasgon said the alleged affair with a direct report makes it “much tougher for the board to leave him in position.”[1]
Several Wall Street analysts told CNBC the stock could fall 20% if Huang is removed.[1] Dan Ives of Yorkville Ives & Co. valued Nvidia at $300 a share with Huang as CEO and $225 without him.[5] “The writing is on the wall that Jensen’s days at Nvidia could be numbered,” Ives said in a note.[5]
Pressure from Washington and what comes next
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., wrote to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Wednesday night.[2] They asked the Commerce Department, the State Department and the White House to preserve records on exports of Nvidia’s advanced AI chips to China.[2] Democrats will control both chambers of Congress in the coming months and will have subpoena power.[2]
Investors also face U.S. initial jobless claims at 8:30 a.m. ET and existing home sales at 10 a.m.[5] Treasury trading resumed Thursday after the Veterans Day closure, with the 10-year yield flat near 4.99%.[5]
Follow the story in our business section and the AI companies hub.
Our Take
Opinion. A company worth trillions of dollars should not reach a leadership crisis without a named successor. Whatever the board decides, Nvidia’s next step should include a public succession plan, so investors can judge the company on more than one person.
Sources
- CNBC: Nvidia stock falls over 6% as investors await Jensen Huang’s fate
- NBC News: Nvidia board meets over CEO Jensen Huang’s future as U.S. chip giant reels from China spy scandal
- TechCrunch: Nvidia’s stock drops as board reportedly preps to oust CEO Jensen Huang
- CNBC: Nasdaq gains more than 1% as CoreWeave spike revitalizes AI trade
- CNBC: Nasdaq-100 futures slide, dragged lower as Nvidia sell-off resumes: Live updates
Read next in Artificial Intelligence
Artificial IntelligenceNvidia Board Hires Wachtell’s Joon Kim to Lead Huang Probe as Shares Fall 5.47% and an Investor Sues
Artificial IntelligenceMegaspeed Pledges to Cooperate With U.S. Probes as Warren and Coons Demand Nvidia Export Records- Artificial IntelligenceHuang Affair Raises Nvidia’s Succession Question, With No Clear Successor to Its Co-Founder CEO
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