Jensen Huang accused of having another affair — with an Nvidia exec

The New York Times, citing five Nvidia employees, reported that Jensen Huang also had an extramarital relationship with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia's vice president of healthcare and a direct report. Per the Times, sources said the two were caught on video being affectionate at a San Jose hotel during a conference earlier this year. Powell, like Huang, is married.

This landed while the board was already investigating Huang's admitted affair with a woman U.S. intelligence alleges is a Chinese spy, and as House Republicans said Congress could subpoena him. Within hours, the Wall Street Journal reported the board was preparing to oust him.

We think this is the allegation that changed the outcome, and it is worth being clear about why. The spy story was murky, contested and wrapped in national politics, and Silicon Valley largely closed ranks. A reported relationship between a CEO and a direct subordinate is not murky in governance terms. The Times notes Nvidia, like many companies, has rules discouraging exactly this. A board cannot enforce that policy on everyone else and exempt the person at the top.

Our concern is about power, not private life. When a CEO is involved with someone in his reporting line, every decision around that person becomes suspect: promotions, budgets, who gets heard. Colleagues are left wondering whether the playing field is level, and the subordinate is put in an unfair position whatever the circumstances. That is why these rules exist, and why they matter more, not less, at a company of this importance.

We would also urge care. These are allegations from anonymous employees, reported by the Times. Powell is a senior executive with her own record, and she deserves not to be reduced to a scandal headline. The accountability here rests with the person who held the power.

Where this leads matters. If the most powerful CEO in AI can lose his job over a workplace-conduct issue, other boards will take note. That is a healthy outcome. Rules for leaders should apply as strictly as rules for everyone else.

Huang co-founded Nvidia in 1993. TechCrunch says it asked Nvidia for comment. The board later accepted Huang's resignation and named CFO Colette Kress interim CEO.