Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang slipped to 10th place on Forbes’ list of the world’s richest people after his net worth plunged by $7.4 billion on Monday.
asserted
worth → slip → Monday
The drop followed a sharp fall in the company’s share price amid an investigation into his relationship with an alleged Chinese spy.
asserted
drop → follow → spy
Huang’s net worth dropped from $162.2 billion to $154.7 billion within the first half-hour of trading, pushing him down two places from number 8 to number 10 in the Forbes real-time billionaire rankings, according to a report by Forbes.
uncertain
worth → drop → Forbes
He briefly fell out of the top 10 after Nvidia shares opened more than 7 per cent lower, wiping out $10.3 billion from his fortune.
asserted
shares → fall → fortune
Also Read |
Nvidia's billionaire boss has admitted to cheating on his wife.
asserted
boss → read → wife
shares were down 5.5 per cent at 1.30pm EST, after falling as much as 7 per cent in premarket trading.
asserted
shares → fall → trading
This was the first trading session since the company confirmed an investigation into Huang.
asserted
company → confirm → Huang
The development also put him below Berkshire Hathaway chairman Warren Buffett and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison in the billionaire rankings.
asserted
development → put → rankings
The fall in Nvidia shares also hit the company's market value.
asserted
fall → hit → value
Its market capitalisation dropped from $4.5 trillion.
asserted
capitalisation → drop → trillion
Nvidia has frequently competed with Apple for the position of the world's most valuable publicly traded company.
asserted
Nvidia → compete → company
The share price decline followed Huang's admission on Sunday that he had an affair.
asserted
he → follow → affair
In a statement to employees, he apologised for his actions and said he supported the company's investigation.
asserted
he → apologise → investigation
Nvidia's board said it had appointed a committee of independent directors, along with external legal counsel, to examine all available information.
asserted
it → say → information
However, it added that it had "no reason to believe that either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised."
asserted
security → add → reason
The investigation follows a report by The New York Times last month that US intelligence agencies had identified a close relationship between Huang and Alice Huang, a Chinese citizen suspected by Washington of gathering information for Beijing.
asserted
agencies → follow → Beijing
Allegation against Alice Huang
According to The New York Times, Alice Huang was recruited by Beijing's top spy agency to collect information on Jensen Huang for China's ministry of state security.
uncertain
Huang → accord → security
The report cited a memo circulated within the Trump administration.
asserted
report → cite → administration
It remains unclear when the two first met.
uncertain
two → remain → ?
However, they were photographed together at a bar in June 2024.
asserted
they → photograph → June
A photo shows NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang with a woman confirmed by a Reuters source to be Alice Huang in Taipei, Taiwan released on June 7, 2024.
asserted
photo → show → June
Alice Huang has also reportedly had connections with other artificial intelligence chip industry leaders, including executives at Gigabyte, a company that assembles Nvidia supercomputers.
uncertain
that → have → supercomputers
She has described herself as the chief executive of Singapore-based neocloud and AI computing services provider Megaspeed.
asserted
She → describe → neocloud
However, the company removed her as managing director from its official paperwork after the first eight months, according to The New York Times.
uncertain
company → remove → Times
Megaspeed was established in 2023 after Chinese gaming and cloud computing company 7Road spun off its overseas operations in Singapore.
asserted
company → establish → Singapore
The company partners with Nvidia and supplies its technology across the Asia-Pacific region.
asserted
company → partner → region
US authorities have been investigating the company's possible role in China's access to Nvidia chips since 2024.
asserted
authorities → investigate → 2024
A Commerce Department official had found Nvidia equipment still packed in boxes at a data centre site in Malaysia, raising concerns that it could be shipped elsewhere.
uncertain
it → find → concerns
Trump defends Nvidia chief
asserted
Trump → defend → chief
US intelligence officials had briefed President Donald Trump about their findings concerning Alice Huang around a year ago, The New York Times reported.
asserted
Times → brief → Huang
However, Trump did not take action at the time.
asserted
Trump → take → time
An Nvidia spokesperson had earlier told the newspaper that "Jensen’s interactions with Ms Huang are not unusual or unexpected," adding that meeting customers was part of his job.
asserted
meeting → tell → job
Huang has also emerged as an ally and technology adviser to Trump.
asserted
Huang → emerge → Trump
The US president rolled back restrictions introduced by the Biden administration in 2022 to limit global exports of advanced AI chips.
asserted
president → roll → chips
Trump defended the Nvidia chief on Sunday night, calling him an "honorable guy".
asserted
Trump → defend → him
He also said he would still include Huang in his upcoming visit to China.
asserted
he → say → China
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and his wife Lori Huang attend the 12th Breakthrough Prize ceremony gala in Santa Monica, California, US on April 18
What lies ahead for Nvidia
The investigation comes at a crucial time for Nvidia, which is scheduled to announce its quarterly earnings next Tuesday after the market closes.
The company's second-quarter results showed its data centre business generating $89 billion in revenue, up 117 per cent year-on-year.
asserted
business → attend → year
The segment accounted for around 92 per cent of Nvidia's total revenue for the quarter, while overall revenue stood at $96.2 billion, beating expectations.
asserted
revenue → account → expectations
Nvidia was also the only company among the so-called Magnificent Seven, a group comprising Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Nvidia, Meta and Tesla, to record a premarket decline on Monday.
asserted
Nvidia → call → Monday
The Aporia
