But for the ten highly remunerated members of Nvidia's senior leadership team, determining the future of the firm's legendary co-founder Jensen Huang – following the astonishing revelations that he'd had an extra-marital affair with an alleged Chinese spy – was exceptionally challenging.
asserted
he → determine → spy
Should they decide to unseat him, trillions of dollars could be lost in the firm's share price, to say nothing of the impact on a company whose fortunes had been interwoven with the billionaire for more than 30 years.
uncertain
fortunes → decide → years
Then, even as the board was gathering for the meeting on Wednesday, news broke that Huang had strayed a second time.
asserted
Huang → gather → Wednesday
Huang, the 63-year-old CEO of the gargantuan company that is at the heart of the AI boom, had been captured in a video shot by a bystander 'being affectionate' with Kimberly Powell, 48, Nvidia's 'vice president of healthcare', at a hotel in San Jose, California.
asserted
that → capture → Jose
Like Huang, Powell is married, and Nvidia has strict rules on relationships between colleagues, particularly bosses and employees, as was the case here.
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Nvidia → have → colleagues
Nvidia co-founder Jensen Huang, 63, has been married to his wife Lori (seen together in April 2026) for over 40 years after they met as lab partners at Oregon State University in the 1980s
Huang was captured 'being affectionate' with Nvidia's vice president of healthcare, Kimberley Powell, in a video shot by a bystander at a hotel in San Jose, California
Huang's security staff reportedly asked the bystander who filmed the encounter to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
uncertain
who → see → agreement
The New York Times said that when it phoned Huang on Wednesday to ask about the alleged second affair, he replied: 'I don't think you should be talking to me directly,' and hung up.
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you → say → me
Sources said company executives already knew about the Powell relationship and board members had been considering ousting the Taiwanese-American boss even before it became public.
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it → say → boss
Regardless of his central importance both to Nvidia's stellar success and the wider AI revolution – not to mention his closeness to President Donald Trump – the double scandal rendered Huang's position untenable for the board.
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position → mention → board
To many industry insiders, his effectively forced resignation yesterday morning was inevitable, even if its consequences were far harder to predict.
asserted
consequences → force → insiders
One senior Trump official offered the Daily Mail a grim forecast of the fallout from Huang's downfall: 'The world economy is f****d.'
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economy → offer → downfall
Nvidia is the world's only source of the chips that make the computations behind AI possible.
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computations → make → AI
Huang's role at the company has been so dominant that some have described the firm, for all its 42,000 employees, as a 'one-man band'.
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some → describe → band
His loss is difficult to exaggerate.
asserted
loss → exaggerate → ?
Nvidia began investigating after reports of his affair with Alice Huang, a suspected spy working for the Chinese Communist Party, were published in the New York Times
The shock ousting already comes at a time of growing anxiety about the share prices of tech giants and the extent to which they have been propping up markets.
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they → begin → markets
Fears that frenzied AI investment is a huge bubble will only be fuelled by the downfall of one of the technology's greatest cheerleaders.
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investment → fuel → cheerleaders
Sure enough, Nvidia shares promptly plunged by as much as 14 per cent following yesterday's announcement.
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shares → plunge → announcement
In a statement, Nvidia rightly described Huang's contributions to the company as 'profound'.
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Nvidia → describe → company
Rarely has the downfall of an industry-conquering tycoon, and one of the world's richest people with a personal fortune estimated at $155 billion, been so dramatic, so rapid or so total.
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downfall → conquer → billion
In a matter of days, Huang has gone from being a superhero to the punchline in countless jokes about the pathetic vanity of middle-aged men in leather jackets.
asserted
Huang → go → jackets
Barely a week ago, he was still being feted as the pre-eminent superstar of the tech boom, who generated trillions of dollars in value for shareholders.
asserted
who → fete → shareholders
In his native Taiwan, the workaholic, perfectionist entrepreneur was a hometown hero treated like a rock star.
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entrepreneur → treat → star
Crowds of women fawned over a silver-haired genius who liked to suggest he was different from the average tech geek, with his impressive wardrobe of Tom Ford couture.
asserted
he → fawn → couture
Sources said company executives already knew about the Powell relationship (seen) and board members had been considering ousting Huang before it became public, writes Tom Leonard
However, it finally started to fall apart last Sunday when he admitted he had been unfaithful to his wife of 39 years, Lori Mills, when the New York Times reported that he had been having an affair with 49-year-old Alice Huang (no relation).
asserted
he → say → Huang
The report added that US intelligence suspected Ms Huang of being a spy working on behalf the Chinese Communist Party.
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intelligence → add → Party
Nvidia greeted the bombshell news by announcing an independent investigation into whether Huang had been the 'target of a foreign intelligence effort'.
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Huang → greet → effort
The Chinese dismissed the claims as 'groundless smears'.
uncertain
Chinese → dismiss → smears
Huang, who had only a month earlier insisted his interactions with Alice were typical of those with Chinese customers and executives, and 'completely normal', suddenly prostrated himself before his staff.
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interactions → insist → staff
'I know an apology cannot undo what I have done,' he grovelled in an email.
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he → know → email
'I hope our family will heal and that, over time, I can earn back your trust.'
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I → hope → trust
As for Ms Huang, the couple had been photographed many times together at official events and dinners across Asia and California in 2024 and 2025.
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couple → photograph → 2024
She hasn't commented on the furore.
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She → comment → furore
She remains a mysterious figure.
asserted
She → remain → ?
We do know that she hails from a rural part of Hunan province and became a presenter on Chinese state TV.
asserted
she → know → TV
She moved to Hong Kong in the mid-2000s to take a Master's degree in media studies, later moving into finance – learning the basics at the British bank HSBC.
asserted
She → move → bank
Bizarrely, she seems to have met Jensen through her businessman husband Kang Wei, whom the Nvidia chief had known for a decade through their shared work on video-game chips.
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chief → seem → chips
Insiders told the Wall Street Journal that Kang had been aware that his wife had been seeing Jensen for two years and would boast of their closeness, saying, 'half-jokingly', that she was his personal assistant.
asserted
she → tell → closeness
Ms Huang and Kang Wei had tried out various business ventures over the past years before landing on the lucrative market of selling Nvidia chips.
asserted
Huang → try → chips
Although the US bans sales of the most advanced chips to China, Alice and her husband allegedly shipped billions of dollars' worth to the country through a Singapore-based company, Megaspeed International, they had set up together.
uncertain
they → ban → company
The US intelligence agencies believe that the willowy Ms Huang was recruited by China's Ministry of State Security – its equivalent of the CIA – because of her access to Jensen.
asserted
Huang → believe → Jensen
…and 20 more, not listed.
The Aporia
