Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang lost $7.4 billion in net worth on Monday after shares tumbled following news of an investigation into his personal life. Huang slipped two spots to number 10 on Forbes' billionaire rankings. The company started a probe after he admitted to an affair with a foreign executive.
Synopsis
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang lost an estimated $7.4 billion in net worth, and slipped two spots to number 10 on Forbes' billionaire rankings, all in a span of 30 minutes. The AI-chips revolutionary admitted Monday to having an affair with a Singapore-based executive alleged to be a Chinese spy. Nvidia has done business with the firm, and a probe into the repationship is underway in the United States.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang lost $7.4 billion in net worth on Monday as the chipmaker's shares tumbled following news of an investigation into his reported relationship with a business executive whom US intelligence suspected of gathering information for China, pushing him down two places to the 10th spot on Forbes' billionaire rankings.
Huang's fortune fell to $154.7 billion within the first 30 minutes of trading and remained at that level into the afternoon, according to Forbes.
He slipped from eighth place, falling below Berkshire Hathaway chairman Warren Buffett and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison in the list of the world's richest people.
The decline made Huang the only person among the world's 10 richest billionaires to record a fall in wealth on Monday afternoon, Forbes reported. His fortune had stood at $162.2 billion before the trading session began.
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Nvidia shares were down 5.5% at 1:30 pm EST on Monday, after falling as much as 7% in premarket trading. The sell-off came as investors reacted to the company's confirmation that it was investigating the matter involving its chief executive. Huang briefly dropped out of the world's 10 richest people after the stock opened more than 7% lower, wiping $10.3 billion off his fortune.
The market reaction also eroded Nvidia's valuation. Its market capitalisation fell from $4.5 trillion at Friday's close to $4.24 trillion by 1:30 pm EST, widening its gap with Apple, with which it has frequently competed for the title of the world's most valuable publicly traded company.
Nvidia was also the only member of the so-called Magnificent Seven to trade lower in premarket activity. The group comprises Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Nvidia, Meta and Tesla.
Nvidia launches probe as Huang acknowledges affair
The investigation follows a report by The New York Times late last month that US intelligence agencies had determined Huang maintained a close relationship with Alice Huang, a Chinese national suspected by US authorities of collecting information for Beijing.
In a statement to employees on Sunday, Huang acknowledged having an affair and apologised for his actions. He also said he supported the company's investigation.
Nvidia's board said on Sunday that it had appointed a committee of independent directors, assisted by outside counsel, to examine all available information. However, it added that it had "no reason to believe that either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised."
The developments have drawn attention to the intersection of Nvidia's business relationships, US national security concerns and the company's increasingly prominent position in the global artificial intelligence industry.
The company has become central to Washington's efforts to maintain an advantage in advanced AI computing, particularly as restrictions on the export of high-performance chips to China remain a sensitive policy issue.
Alice Huang's alleged China links draw scrutiny
According to The New York Times, Alice Huang was recruited by Beijing's top intelligence agency to collect information on Jensen Huang for China's Ministry of State Security. The newspaper cited a memo circulated within the Trump administration. The precise circumstances and timing of her first meeting with the Nvidia chief remain unclear.
The two were photographed together at a bar in June 2024. Alice Huang has also reportedly maintained relationships with executives at other artificial intelligence chip companies, including Gigabyte, which assembles Nvidia supercomputers.
She has described herself as the chief executive of Singapore-based neocloud and AI computing services provider Megaspeed. However, the company removed her as managing director from its corporate paperwork after its first eight months, according to The New York Times.
Megaspeed was formed in 2023 after Chinese gaming and cloud computing company 7Road spun off its overseas operations in Singapore. The company partners with Nvidia and supplies its technology across the Asia-Pacific region. It has also been under US scrutiny over concerns about China's access to Nvidia chips since 2024.
A US Commerce Department official had found Nvidia equipment still in boxes at a data centre site in Malaysia, raising concerns that the hardware could be shipped elsewhere, the newspaper reported.
US intelligence officials had briefed President Donald Trump on their findings about Alice Huang around a year ago, according to The New York Times. Trump did not take action at the time.
Nvidia 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 responsibilities.
The controversy also comes against the backdrop of Huang's growing proximity to the Trump administration. The Nvidia chief has emerged as an ally and technology adviser to the US President, who rolled back restrictions introduced by the Biden administration in 2022 to limit global exports of AI chips.
Trump defended Huang on Sunday night, describing him as an "honorable guy" and saying he would still include the Nvidia chief on his upcoming trip to China.