SAN FRANCISCO — NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang is confronting the most severe crisis of his career following revelations of a personal relationship with Alice Huang, a woman facing suspicions regarding ties to Chinese intelligence. The fallout has rapidly triggered significant financial losses, a major shareholder lawsuit, and intense debate over his future at the semiconductor giant.

On Monday, a group of NVIDIA investors, led by Mark Kistenmacher, filed a class-action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The complaint accuses both Huang and the company of violating federal securities laws, alleging that they misled shareholders regarding the risks tied to the CEO's personal conduct and corporate oversight. The legal action seeks damages for the massive wealth wiped out as the controversy unfolded.

The market reaction was swift and punishing. On Wall Street, NVIDIA shares plummeted 4.27% in a single trading session, evaporating approximately $1921 billion (roughly 260 trillion KRW) in market capitalization.

The Megaspeed Connection and Export Controls

At the center of the controversy is Alice Huang (also known as Alice Wang), whom Jensen Huang reportedly met at an NVIDIA event in California in early 2024 before their relationship deepened later that year.

According to reports from the Financial Times, Alice Huang and her business partner Kang Wei—identified as a board member of the state-backed regional lender Guilin Bank—sought investors for a multi-hundred-million-dollar Southeast Asian data center project. During investor pitches, she allegedly boasted that securing advanced NVIDIA Graphic Processing Units (GPUs) would present no obstacles.

Under current U.S. export control regulations, Chinese entities are strictly prohibited from directly owning advanced NVIDIA data center hardware. However, corporate records and investigative reports indicate that Megaspeed, a Singapore-headquartered firm where Alice served as an executive, expanded rapidly. Backed by financing linked to Alibaba's Singapore subsidiary, Megaspeed’s asset base surged from $33 million to $3 billion within a single year in 2024.

The New York Times reported that U.S. authorities, including the Department of Commerce, began investigating Megaspeed and Alice Huang over concerns that the firm was acting as a smuggling conduit to channel advanced American AI chips into China. The probe reportedly stalled last August after an NVIDIA legal advisor contacted officials, leading to the case being referred to the Department of Justice.

Scrutiny surrounding Alice Huang's professional background has also intensified. While profile entries on Chinese private equity platforms listed her past experience with state media and prominent financial institutions like HSBC and CITIC, official records from those organizations have failed to verify her employment history.

Can Huang Maintain Control?

The convergence of plunging stock prices, export control investigations, and the espionage controversy has sparked widespread speculation regarding Jensen Huang's tenure at NVIDIA.

Some analysts suggest that Huang’s grip on the company remains formidable. Approximately four of NVIDIA's ten board members are long-standing allies dating back to the company's founding era. Furthermore, institutional investors have previously noted in proxy filings that NVIDIA relies heavily on its veteran leadership and lacks a formal, publicly disclosed succession plan.

Conversely, corporate governance experts point out that unlike many other big tech founders, Huang does not hold dual-class or super-voting shares to insulate himself from removal. With a direct equity stake of roughly 3.58%, he is theoretically vulnerable if the board decides to act.

Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a professor at the Yale School of Management, remarked that Huang’s path forward hangs in a precarious balance, noting that even if the CEO claims he was misled, similar conduct by other corporate officers would typically result in termination.

As an independent board committee prepares to investigate the allegations, NVIDIA stands at a historic crossroads, weighing the irreplaceable contributions of its visionary leader against mounting legal and regulatory pressures.

[ⓒ Global Economic Times. 무단전재-재배포 금지]