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New Jensen Huang memes keep coming…
Jensen Huang also had an extramarital relationship with an executive who reports to him. The relationship, which has not been previously reported, was with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of health care. Under Nvidia’s code of conduct, employees are told to “avoid situations where our actions create conflict” including “personal relationships,” and the company states that it “promptly investigates reports of misconduct.” Many corporations have policies against managers having relationships with subordinates.
Huang and Powell, 48, were captured on video being affectionate at a San Jose, Calif., hotel during a Nvidia conference in March.
Both Huang and Powell are married to other people.
Huang, who co-founded Nvidia in 1993 and has turned it into the premier supplier of AI chips, has been under intensifying scrutiny. Last month, Alice Huang, a Chinese executive he had become close to, had been identified by US officials as a Chinese intelligence asset.
This month, after Huang acknowledged the affair, Nvidia’s board opened an investigation into the matter that is being led by the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. The Republican leaders of three influential House committees have also asked Huang to appear for a closed-door briefing on his interactions with Alice Huang.
When reached by phone on Nov 11 and asked about his relationship with Powell, Huang said, “I don’t think you should be talking to me directly.” He then hung up.
Huang’s relationship with Powell has been discussed inside the company.
Powell joined Nvidia in 2008. She oversees programs that could apply Nvidia’s chip technology to higher education and health care, particularly medical imaging devices.
Powell has risen through Nvidia’s ranks. She was promoted to senior director of artificial intelligence business development in 2016, according to her LinkedIn. By late 2017, she was appointed vice president of health care. She attends technology conferences around the world, and delivers speeches on behalf of the company.
In March, Powell appeared at GTC, Nvidia’s annual developer conference in San Jose, where she spoke about using AI to aid in breakthroughs in health care and biology. Her presentation used cartoon depictions of Huang.
During the conference, Nvidia executives were at a nearby hotel for meetings. Huang and Powell were seen being affectionate at the hotel. One bystander captured the interaction on their phone.
Huang’s security witnessed the bystander with their phone and sequestered them. They made the person an offer to sign a nondisclosure agreement.
Huang is among a long list of chief executives of American companies who have had relationships with subordinates. Brian Krzanich resigned in 2018 from Intel after acknowledging a “past consensual relationship” with an employee.
The following year, McDonald’s removed Steve Easterbrook as its chief executive and later sued him after learning he had violated corporate policies by maintaining sexual relationships with multiple employees.
nytimes.com/2026/11/11/techn…
325
Byron Wan retweeted
💥 On Nov 5, President Trump authorized a crack down on companies suspected of diverting Nvidia's advanced AI chips to China for the third time this year — even consulting Elon Musk before giving the go-ahead.
One administration official has repeatedly stood in the way: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
That day, as the spy scandal rocked the administration, Lutnick met in the Situation Room with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and National Security Adviser and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
During the meeting, Bessent confronted Lutnick about why his department has resisted implementing the export controls, particularly on Megaspeed, the company at the center of the spy scandal. The group sided with Bessent.
Lutnick appeared to agree, but then muttered under his breath, "I need to check with the president."
Lutnick's seemingly innocuous comment raised concerns, because officials have repeatedly believed the Commerce Department would impose the export controls, only to have nothing happen.
"He's stalling it out," said one official, describing how Lutnick had previously met privately with the president to change his mind about the export limit.
"This is an ongoing concern with Howard and this issue," said another.
This time, one person in the room called his bluff by saying: "Great. Why don't we do it today?"
Around 5pm, the group headed to the Oval Office.
Trump called tech advisor Elon Musk and agreed to move forward. Musk supported Rubio, Bessent, Greer and Hegseth's case to impose the controls while Lutnick warned it "will start a trade war with China."
“Everyone argued back that China is already doing to us what Lutnick warned would happen.”
With Lutnick the lone holdout, Trump made his decision: "Let's get it done." But once everyone was outside of the Oval Office, Lutnick proposed a new delay tactic.
"I'll develop some options and come back," he said.
"Everyone was like: 'No, no, the decision's been made. Go fucking execute. Well, it still hasn't happened."
On at least three separate occasions — in May, in Aug, and on Nov 5 — Trump approved taking action against suspected diversions of Nvidia chips to China.
But Lutnick and Commerce Undersecretary Jeffrey Kessler resisted pressure from Bessent and others to move forward.
In May, a highly classified memo warning about Jensen Huang's relationship with Alice Huang, a Megaspeed employee suspected by US intelligence of being a Chinese agent, was shared with the president and other officials.
In a subsequent meeting, Bessent, Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton, Hegseth and White House officials pressed Lutnick and Kessler to act, "and they were refusing."
The Trump administration last year announced it would loosen export controls on Nvidia H200 chip sales to China — something Nvidia has lobbied hard for.
Trump has taken a more lax approach to export controls on China, agreeing to allow sales of Nvidia's H200 chips, which are older but still powerful, in exchange for a 25% tariff.
Long before the affair with Alice Huang, Jensen Huang has pushed for tapping into the Chinese market.
The CEO at the center of an AI boom Trump is dead set on winning has largely been successful at convincing Trump and Lutnick that selling less powerful chips to China is good for national security because it prevents China from developing its own alternatives and keeps the adversary dependent on the US.
While Lutnick oversees the department squarely at the center of export control policy, Trump is the ultimate decider.
axios.com/2026/11/11/trump-l…
💥 Nvidia’s general counsel Tim Teter intervened in a US government probe of suspected smuggling of AI chips by Megaspeed, questioning whether the Trump administration played a role in detaining 🇨🇳 Alice Huang.
In late summer 2025, Teter called Commerce Under Secretary Jeffrey Kessler, who oversees US chip export curbs, to ask about the Megaspeed investigation.
Specifically, Teter wanted to know whether Kessler’s Bureau of Industry and Security was involved in the Singapore government’s recent detention of Alice Huang. Singapore police had brought Alice in for questioning and restricted her from leaving the country. BIS was not involved in that action.
An Nvidia spokesperson said that Teter was unaware of the affair at the time he called Kessler about Alice’s detention in Singapore.
It’s unclear whether Teter made any specific requests of Kessler related to his agency’s investigation into Megaspeed, which was separate from Singapore’s. But in the weeks that followed, BIS staff were muzzled in their ability to look into the company, including a mandate that they route all requests of Nvidia through Kessler or seek his approval for outreach — a highly unusual step that remains unique to the chipmaker. They were also told not to mention Megaspeed or Speedmatrix, the company’s Malaysian subsidiary, in external communications.
Teter, meanwhile, reached out directly to the agency’s staff, including requesting a meeting with one of them. That BIS employee declined the meeting, and Teter responded that he didn’t understand why his request was spurned, since Kessler had granted him permission to communicate with BIS employees. It’s unclear exactly what Teter wanted to discuss with these individuals.
The employees forwarded the email to Kessler, who told them hours later to continue handling the case by the book, to which the employees responded: “10-4. Thank you.” Kessler didn’t otherwise weigh in on how the employees should proceed with the case.
In late 2025, the Justice Department, which was working on the case with BIS — standard practice for any BIS investigation that turns into a criminal probe — requested that BIS pause its efforts. BIS has not made any progress since then, despite the agency having enough evidence to move forward.
It’s an extraordinary episode that raises questions about Nvidia’s ability to influence US investigations into breaches of China chip curbs, as well as what exactly Teter sought to do with any additional information about Alice’s detention in Singapore.
In the months after Teter’s initial call with Kessler, Nvidia gave BIS an incomplete account of its business with Megaspeed. After several visits to Megaspeed’s data centers — 12 facilities owned by eight companies across three countries in Southeast Asia — Nvidia had sent inventory checks to the agency and declared in mid-Nov 2025 that everything was where it should be.
The company also said at the time that it had asked the US government whether it needed to cut off business with Megaspeed, and was told no.
But Nvidia’s tabulations, as relayed to the US government, undercounted the number of chips it had sold to Megaspeed via hardware partners by 50,000 units — worth billions of dollars. After being pressed about the gap, Nvidia said in Dec 2025 that it had checked additional Megaspeed warehouses that contained the missing hardware, while declining to state exactly how many chips it found in those facilities or provide any further details.
Nvidia also declined to comment on significant additional discrepancies in Megaspeed’s data center footprint, including that two of the eight data center operators Nvidia told officials in Washington it had visited said they did not, in fact, have Megaspeed’s hardware — and that Megaspeed boasts something of a Chinese corporate twin.
1/n
bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
nytimes.com/2026/11/09/busin…
Byron Wan retweeted
💥 Nvidia’s board is preparing to oust CEO Jensen Huang, its founder and chief executive after he had two extramarital affairs, including one with a suspected Chinese spy.
The board is preparing to meet as soon as Nov 11 to determine his future. His departure would bring down the curtain on an era during which he stoked the global AI boom and became a geopolitical star. It would leave one of the world’s most valuable companies in need of a new leader.
Huang, a co-founder of Nvidia, is seen by many as the face of the AI arms race. Known for his leather jackets and near-constant appearances at conferences and events all around the globe, he spoke with the confidence of a salesman who had just what the world wanted — and he did. Nvidia’s GPUs, high-powered computer processors packed with billions of transistors, are the central component behind what many believe is the next industrial revolution.
The chipmaker’s importance to global customers made Huang a worldwide celebrity. He frequently met with top US and Chinese officials, and was regularly mobbed by adoring fans when he visited Taiwan, his birthplace and the global manufacturing hub of the chip industry.
Then, on Sun Nov 8, Huang acknowledged in a letter to staff that he had been unfaithful to his wife and apologized for violating his family’s and his employees’ trust. That affair involved Alice Huang, an executive at the Singapore-based data company Megaspeed, which has been a major Nvidia customer and who US intelligence officials believe is working for China’s intelligence services.
The Nvidia CEO also had an affair with an employee.
Nvidia’s latest proxy statement warns that it is “highly dependent on the services of our longstanding executive team” and that the failure to ensure effective succession planning could “hinder our strategic planning, execution, and long-term success.”
Huang, who had roughly 60 direct reports, has said he doesn’t believe in succession planning and that leaders should continuously pass on knowledge and information as they have it. It wasn’t immediately clear who would succeed him.
Megaspeed was one of several companies using Nvidia chips to set up AI data centers in Southeast Asia and suspected of diverting some of the products to China. It had been under investigation by the Commerce Department since late 2024.
The Justice Department is now leading multiple investigations involving Alice Huang.
Trump approved shipments of Nvidia chips to China despite security concerns and adopted many of the Nvidia CEO’s policy positions, moves that are now under scrutiny from lawmakers and other officials.
Huang’s charisma and arguments about the AI boom boosting the economy impressed Trump and made Huang a mainstay at the White House.
wsj.com/business/nvidia-is-p…
Jensen Huang also had an extramarital relationship with an executive who reports to him. The relationship, which has not been previously reported, was with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of health care. Under Nvidia’s code of conduct, employees are told to “avoid situations where our actions create conflict” including “personal relationships,” and the company states that it “promptly investigates reports of misconduct.” Many corporations have policies against managers having relationships with subordinates.
Huang and Powell, 48, were captured on video being affectionate at a San Jose, Calif., hotel during a Nvidia conference in March.
Both Huang and Powell are married to other people.
Huang, who co-founded Nvidia in 1993 and has turned it into the premier supplier of AI chips, has been under intensifying scrutiny. Last month, Alice Huang, a Chinese executive he had become close to, had been identified by US officials as a Chinese intelligence asset.
This month, after Huang acknowledged the affair, Nvidia’s board opened an investigation into the matter that is being led by the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. The Republican leaders of three influential House committees have also asked Huang to appear for a closed-door briefing on his interactions with Alice Huang.
When reached by phone on Nov 11 and asked about his relationship with Powell, Huang said, “I don’t think you should be talking to me directly.” He then hung up.
Huang’s relationship with Powell has been discussed inside the company.
Powell joined Nvidia in 2008. She oversees programs that could apply Nvidia’s chip technology to higher education and health care, particularly medical imaging devices.
Powell has risen through Nvidia’s ranks. She was promoted to senior director of artificial intelligence business development in 2016, according to her LinkedIn. By late 2017, she was appointed vice president of health care. She attends technology conferences around the world, and delivers speeches on behalf of the company.
In March, Powell appeared at GTC, Nvidia’s annual developer conference in San Jose, where she spoke about using AI to aid in breakthroughs in health care and biology. Her presentation used cartoon depictions of Huang.
During the conference, Nvidia executives were at a nearby hotel for meetings. Huang and Powell were seen being affectionate at the hotel. One bystander captured the interaction on their phone.
Huang’s security witnessed the bystander with their phone and sequestered them. They made the person an offer to sign a nondisclosure agreement.
Huang is among a long list of chief executives of American companies who have had relationships with subordinates. Brian Krzanich resigned in 2018 from Intel after acknowledging a “past consensual relationship” with an employee.
The following year, McDonald’s removed Steve Easterbrook as its chief executive and later sued him after learning he had violated corporate policies by maintaining sexual relationships with multiple employees.
nytimes.com/2026/11/11/techn…
Byron Wan retweeted
Jensen Huang also had an extramarital relationship with an executive who reports to him. The relationship, which has not been previously reported, was with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of health care. Under Nvidia’s code of conduct, employees are told to “avoid situations where our actions create conflict” including “personal relationships,” and the company states that it “promptly investigates reports of misconduct.” Many corporations have policies against managers having relationships with subordinates.
Huang and Powell, 48, were captured on video being affectionate at a San Jose, Calif., hotel during a Nvidia conference in March.
Both Huang and Powell are married to other people.
Huang, who co-founded Nvidia in 1993 and has turned it into the premier supplier of AI chips, has been under intensifying scrutiny. Last month, Alice Huang, a Chinese executive he had become close to, had been identified by US officials as a Chinese intelligence asset.
This month, after Huang acknowledged the affair, Nvidia’s board opened an investigation into the matter that is being led by the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. The Republican leaders of three influential House committees have also asked Huang to appear for a closed-door briefing on his interactions with Alice Huang.
When reached by phone on Nov 11 and asked about his relationship with Powell, Huang said, “I don’t think you should be talking to me directly.” He then hung up.
Huang’s relationship with Powell has been discussed inside the company.
Powell joined Nvidia in 2008. She oversees programs that could apply Nvidia’s chip technology to higher education and health care, particularly medical imaging devices.
Powell has risen through Nvidia’s ranks. She was promoted to senior director of artificial intelligence business development in 2016, according to her LinkedIn. By late 2017, she was appointed vice president of health care. She attends technology conferences around the world, and delivers speeches on behalf of the company.
In March, Powell appeared at GTC, Nvidia’s annual developer conference in San Jose, where she spoke about using AI to aid in breakthroughs in health care and biology. Her presentation used cartoon depictions of Huang.
During the conference, Nvidia executives were at a nearby hotel for meetings. Huang and Powell were seen being affectionate at the hotel. One bystander captured the interaction on their phone.
Huang’s security witnessed the bystander with their phone and sequestered them. They made the person an offer to sign a nondisclosure agreement.
Huang is among a long list of chief executives of American companies who have had relationships with subordinates. Brian Krzanich resigned in 2018 from Intel after acknowledging a “past consensual relationship” with an employee.
The following year, McDonald’s removed Steve Easterbrook as its chief executive and later sued him after learning he had violated corporate policies by maintaining sexual relationships with multiple employees.
nytimes.com/2026/11/11/techn…
💥 Nvidia’s general counsel Tim Teter intervened in a US government probe of suspected smuggling of AI chips by Megaspeed, questioning whether the Trump administration played a role in detaining 🇨🇳 Alice Huang.
In late summer 2025, Teter called Commerce Under Secretary Jeffrey Kessler, who oversees US chip export curbs, to ask about the Megaspeed investigation.
Specifically, Teter wanted to know whether Kessler’s Bureau of Industry and Security was involved in the Singapore government’s recent detention of Alice Huang. Singapore police had brought Alice in for questioning and restricted her from leaving the country. BIS was not involved in that action.
An Nvidia spokesperson said that Teter was unaware of the affair at the time he called Kessler about Alice’s detention in Singapore.
It’s unclear whether Teter made any specific requests of Kessler related to his agency’s investigation into Megaspeed, which was separate from Singapore’s. But in the weeks that followed, BIS staff were muzzled in their ability to look into the company, including a mandate that they route all requests of Nvidia through Kessler or seek his approval for outreach — a highly unusual step that remains unique to the chipmaker. They were also told not to mention Megaspeed or Speedmatrix, the company’s Malaysian subsidiary, in external communications.
Teter, meanwhile, reached out directly to the agency’s staff, including requesting a meeting with one of them. That BIS employee declined the meeting, and Teter responded that he didn’t understand why his request was spurned, since Kessler had granted him permission to communicate with BIS employees. It’s unclear exactly what Teter wanted to discuss with these individuals.
The employees forwarded the email to Kessler, who told them hours later to continue handling the case by the book, to which the employees responded: “10-4. Thank you.” Kessler didn’t otherwise weigh in on how the employees should proceed with the case.
In late 2025, the Justice Department, which was working on the case with BIS — standard practice for any BIS investigation that turns into a criminal probe — requested that BIS pause its efforts. BIS has not made any progress since then, despite the agency having enough evidence to move forward.
It’s an extraordinary episode that raises questions about Nvidia’s ability to influence US investigations into breaches of China chip curbs, as well as what exactly Teter sought to do with any additional information about Alice’s detention in Singapore.
In the months after Teter’s initial call with Kessler, Nvidia gave BIS an incomplete account of its business with Megaspeed. After several visits to Megaspeed’s data centers — 12 facilities owned by eight companies across three countries in Southeast Asia — Nvidia had sent inventory checks to the agency and declared in mid-Nov 2025 that everything was where it should be.
The company also said at the time that it had asked the US government whether it needed to cut off business with Megaspeed, and was told no.
But Nvidia’s tabulations, as relayed to the US government, undercounted the number of chips it had sold to Megaspeed via hardware partners by 50,000 units — worth billions of dollars. After being pressed about the gap, Nvidia said in Dec 2025 that it had checked additional Megaspeed warehouses that contained the missing hardware, while declining to state exactly how many chips it found in those facilities or provide any further details.
Nvidia also declined to comment on significant additional discrepancies in Megaspeed’s data center footprint, including that two of the eight data center operators Nvidia told officials in Washington it had visited said they did not, in fact, have Megaspeed’s hardware — and that Megaspeed boasts something of a Chinese corporate twin.
1/n
bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
nytimes.com/2026/11/09/busin…
Byron Wan retweeted
🇨🇳 Northwestern Polytechnical University — an institution with deep ties to the PLA — bought two Nvidia H200 chips last month for 874,700 yuan ($123,000), according to an Oct 21 procurement record on its website.
Northwestern is a member of the "Seven Sons of National Defense" group of Chinese universities under US sanctions and with a history of conducting defense-related research for Beijing.
The chips were purchased for its management school from Shaanxi Bosuan Network Technology rather than directly from Nvidia.
Northwestern Polytechnical also bought access this year to H200 chips and other powerful Nvidia AI processors through five contracts for rented computing capacity from Chinese companies, procurement records show.
Northwestern Polytechnical conducts research related to military aircraft, missiles and satellites. The US Commerce Department added the university to the Entity List in 2001 over its alleged involvement in missile-proliferation activities and military research. It tightened the restrictions in 2019, making licences for exports of controlled US technology to the university subject to a policy of denial in most circumstances.
Northwestern Polytechnical's purchases show how Chinese institutions with military ties continue to obtain US AI computing power through domestic suppliers, either by buying chips outright or renting access to servers containing them.
A review of 26 Chinese procurement and corporate records from this year found universities and research institutions buying US-restricted Nvidia chips or renting access to Nvidia-powered computing services that use such chips through domestic suppliers. Several had close links to China's defence industry or military research.
In addition to the management school's outright purchase of the two H200 chips, procurement records show the university's cybersecurity school awarded two seven-month contracts in Jan for access to servers containing eight H200 chips each. The contracts, worth 441,700 yuan and 441,000 yuan, covered fine-tuning AI models and reinforcement-learning training.
It also rented access to servers containing 8 Nvidia A100 chips and 8 A800 chips. The A100 and A800 are banned from export to all Chinese entities, though the H200 is the most advanced of those cited in Northwestern Polytechnical's procurement records.
In April, another university institute bought computing services requiring at least 24 A100 chips in a 375,000 yuan contract for structural and fluid-dynamics simulations.
The awards went to several little-known Chinese technology suppliers. The records offered scant information about where the processors originated or where the rented servers operated.
Under Chinese law, public procurement agencies must verify that suppliers can fulfil orders before announcing winning bidders and signing contracts.
The procurement records show a wider market for restricted Nvidia AI chips and computing services at Chinese universities.
Shenzhen University bought three H100 processors, another high-end Nvidia AI chip banned by the US, for 769,800 yuan in Sep. Wuhan University of Technology bought a server containing an H100 chip for 355,000 yuan in June and four A100 chips in a separate 344,000 yuan purchase.
Beihang University, another of the Seven Sons of National Defense universities, bought four A800 processors for 489,000 yuan in April. Beihang has close ties to China's aerospace and defence industries and conducts research for military aviation and space programmes.
Two government procurement announcements in July and Sep named suppliers selected to provide computing services using Nvidia H800 and A800 chips restricted from export to China to the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences. One listed H800 access at 10 yuan per chip-hour. A separate January procurement award named a supplier of six A100 chips worth 484,800 yuan for a Shenzhen-based public institution.
reuters.com/world/pla-linked…
Byron Wan retweeted
💥 This is reportedly a photo of Alice Huang, with Chinese name 黄乐 (Huang Le), taken when she was in Jiangnan Middle School (now Jiangnan School) in Xiangtan, Hunan province…
She was reportedly born in 1977…
💥 On Nov 5, President Trump authorized a crack down on companies suspected of diverting Nvidia's advanced AI chips to China for the third time this year — even consulting Elon Musk before giving the go-ahead.
One administration official has repeatedly stood in the way: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
That day, as the spy scandal rocked the administration, Lutnick met in the Situation Room with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and National Security Adviser and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
During the meeting, Bessent confronted Lutnick about why his department has resisted implementing the export controls, particularly on Megaspeed, the company at the center of the spy scandal. The group sided with Bessent.
Lutnick appeared to agree, but then muttered under his breath, "I need to check with the president."
Lutnick's seemingly innocuous comment raised concerns, because officials have repeatedly believed the Commerce Department would impose the export controls, only to have nothing happen.
"He's stalling it out," said one official, describing how Lutnick had previously met privately with the president to change his mind about the export limit.
"This is an ongoing concern with Howard and this issue," said another.
This time, one person in the room called his bluff by saying: "Great. Why don't we do it today?"
Around 5pm, the group headed to the Oval Office.
Trump called tech advisor Elon Musk and agreed to move forward. Musk supported Rubio, Bessent, Greer and Hegseth's case to impose the controls while Lutnick warned it "will start a trade war with China."
“Everyone argued back that China is already doing to us what Lutnick warned would happen.”
With Lutnick the lone holdout, Trump made his decision: "Let's get it done." But once everyone was outside of the Oval Office, Lutnick proposed a new delay tactic.
"I'll develop some options and come back," he said.
"Everyone was like: 'No, no, the decision's been made. Go fucking execute. Well, it still hasn't happened."
On at least three separate occasions — in May, in Aug, and on Nov 5 — Trump approved taking action against suspected diversions of Nvidia chips to China.
But Lutnick and Commerce Undersecretary Jeffrey Kessler resisted pressure from Bessent and others to move forward.
In May, a highly classified memo warning about Jensen Huang's relationship with Alice Huang, a Megaspeed employee suspected by US intelligence of being a Chinese agent, was shared with the president and other officials.
In a subsequent meeting, Bessent, Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton, Hegseth and White House officials pressed Lutnick and Kessler to act, "and they were refusing."
The Trump administration last year announced it would loosen export controls on Nvidia H200 chip sales to China — something Nvidia has lobbied hard for.
Trump has taken a more lax approach to export controls on China, agreeing to allow sales of Nvidia's H200 chips, which are older but still powerful, in exchange for a 25% tariff.
Long before the affair with Alice Huang, Jensen Huang has pushed for tapping into the Chinese market.
The CEO at the center of an AI boom Trump is dead set on winning has largely been successful at convincing Trump and Lutnick that selling less powerful chips to China is good for national security because it prevents China from developing its own alternatives and keeps the adversary dependent on the US.
While Lutnick oversees the department squarely at the center of export control policy, Trump is the ultimate decider.
axios.com/2026/11/11/trump-l…
1
462
💥 On Nov 5, President Trump authorized a crack down on companies suspected of diverting Nvidia's advanced AI chips to China for the third time this year — even consulting Elon Musk before giving the go-ahead.
One administration official has repeatedly stood in the way: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
That day, as the spy scandal rocked the administration, Lutnick met in the Situation Room with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and National Security Adviser and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
During the meeting, Bessent confronted Lutnick about why his department has resisted implementing the export controls, particularly on Megaspeed, the company at the center of the spy scandal. The group sided with Bessent.
Lutnick appeared to agree, but then muttered under his breath, "I need to check with the president."
Lutnick's seemingly innocuous comment raised concerns, because officials have repeatedly believed the Commerce Department would impose the export controls, only to have nothing happen.
"He's stalling it out," said one official, describing how Lutnick had previously met privately with the president to change his mind about the export limit.
"This is an ongoing concern with Howard and this issue," said another.
This time, one person in the room called his bluff by saying: "Great. Why don't we do it today?"
Around 5pm, the group headed to the Oval Office.
Trump called tech advisor Elon Musk and agreed to move forward. Musk supported Rubio, Bessent, Greer and Hegseth's case to impose the controls while Lutnick warned it "will start a trade war with China."
“Everyone argued back that China is already doing to us what Lutnick warned would happen.”
With Lutnick the lone holdout, Trump made his decision: "Let's get it done." But once everyone was outside of the Oval Office, Lutnick proposed a new delay tactic.
"I'll develop some options and come back," he said.
"Everyone was like: 'No, no, the decision's been made. Go fucking execute. Well, it still hasn't happened."
On at least three separate occasions — in May, in Aug, and on Nov 5 — Trump approved taking action against suspected diversions of Nvidia chips to China.
But Lutnick and Commerce Undersecretary Jeffrey Kessler resisted pressure from Bessent and others to move forward.
In May, a highly classified memo warning about Jensen Huang's relationship with Alice Huang, a Megaspeed employee suspected by US intelligence of being a Chinese agent, was shared with the president and other officials.
In a subsequent meeting, Bessent, Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton, Hegseth and White House officials pressed Lutnick and Kessler to act, "and they were refusing."
The Trump administration last year announced it would loosen export controls on Nvidia H200 chip sales to China — something Nvidia has lobbied hard for.
Trump has taken a more lax approach to export controls on China, agreeing to allow sales of Nvidia's H200 chips, which are older but still powerful, in exchange for a 25% tariff.
Long before the affair with Alice Huang, Jensen Huang has pushed for tapping into the Chinese market.
The CEO at the center of an AI boom Trump is dead set on winning has largely been successful at convincing Trump and Lutnick that selling less powerful chips to China is good for national security because it prevents China from developing its own alternatives and keeps the adversary dependent on the US.
While Lutnick oversees the department squarely at the center of export control policy, Trump is the ultimate decider.
axios.com/2026/11/11/trump-l…
💥 Nvidia’s general counsel Tim Teter intervened in a US government probe of suspected smuggling of AI chips by Megaspeed, questioning whether the Trump administration played a role in detaining 🇨🇳 Alice Huang.
In late summer 2025, Teter called Commerce Under Secretary Jeffrey Kessler, who oversees US chip export curbs, to ask about the Megaspeed investigation.
Specifically, Teter wanted to know whether Kessler’s Bureau of Industry and Security was involved in the Singapore government’s recent detention of Alice Huang. Singapore police had brought Alice in for questioning and restricted her from leaving the country. BIS was not involved in that action.
An Nvidia spokesperson said that Teter was unaware of the affair at the time he called Kessler about Alice’s detention in Singapore.
It’s unclear whether Teter made any specific requests of Kessler related to his agency’s investigation into Megaspeed, which was separate from Singapore’s. But in the weeks that followed, BIS staff were muzzled in their ability to look into the company, including a mandate that they route all requests of Nvidia through Kessler or seek his approval for outreach — a highly unusual step that remains unique to the chipmaker. They were also told not to mention Megaspeed or Speedmatrix, the company’s Malaysian subsidiary, in external communications.
Teter, meanwhile, reached out directly to the agency’s staff, including requesting a meeting with one of them. That BIS employee declined the meeting, and Teter responded that he didn’t understand why his request was spurned, since Kessler had granted him permission to communicate with BIS employees. It’s unclear exactly what Teter wanted to discuss with these individuals.
The employees forwarded the email to Kessler, who told them hours later to continue handling the case by the book, to which the employees responded: “10-4. Thank you.” Kessler didn’t otherwise weigh in on how the employees should proceed with the case.
In late 2025, the Justice Department, which was working on the case with BIS — standard practice for any BIS investigation that turns into a criminal probe — requested that BIS pause its efforts. BIS has not made any progress since then, despite the agency having enough evidence to move forward.
It’s an extraordinary episode that raises questions about Nvidia’s ability to influence US investigations into breaches of China chip curbs, as well as what exactly Teter sought to do with any additional information about Alice’s detention in Singapore.
In the months after Teter’s initial call with Kessler, Nvidia gave BIS an incomplete account of its business with Megaspeed. After several visits to Megaspeed’s data centers — 12 facilities owned by eight companies across three countries in Southeast Asia — Nvidia had sent inventory checks to the agency and declared in mid-Nov 2025 that everything was where it should be.
The company also said at the time that it had asked the US government whether it needed to cut off business with Megaspeed, and was told no.
But Nvidia’s tabulations, as relayed to the US government, undercounted the number of chips it had sold to Megaspeed via hardware partners by 50,000 units — worth billions of dollars. After being pressed about the gap, Nvidia said in Dec 2025 that it had checked additional Megaspeed warehouses that contained the missing hardware, while declining to state exactly how many chips it found in those facilities or provide any further details.
Nvidia also declined to comment on significant additional discrepancies in Megaspeed’s data center footprint, including that two of the eight data center operators Nvidia told officials in Washington it had visited said they did not, in fact, have Megaspeed’s hardware — and that Megaspeed boasts something of a Chinese corporate twin.
1/n
bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
nytimes.com/2026/11/09/busin…
👇🏻
Jensen Huang also had an extramarital relationship with an executive who reports to him. The relationship, which has not been previously reported, was with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of health care. Under Nvidia’s code of conduct, employees are told to “avoid situations where our actions create conflict” including “personal relationships,” and the company states that it “promptly investigates reports of misconduct.” Many corporations have policies against managers having relationships with subordinates.
Huang and Powell, 48, were captured on video being affectionate at a San Jose, Calif., hotel during a Nvidia conference in March.
Both Huang and Powell are married to other people.
Huang, who co-founded Nvidia in 1993 and has turned it into the premier supplier of AI chips, has been under intensifying scrutiny. Last month, Alice Huang, a Chinese executive he had become close to, had been identified by US officials as a Chinese intelligence asset.
This month, after Huang acknowledged the affair, Nvidia’s board opened an investigation into the matter that is being led by the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. The Republican leaders of three influential House committees have also asked Huang to appear for a closed-door briefing on his interactions with Alice Huang.
When reached by phone on Nov 11 and asked about his relationship with Powell, Huang said, “I don’t think you should be talking to me directly.” He then hung up.
Huang’s relationship with Powell has been discussed inside the company.
Powell joined Nvidia in 2008. She oversees programs that could apply Nvidia’s chip technology to higher education and health care, particularly medical imaging devices.
Powell has risen through Nvidia’s ranks. She was promoted to senior director of artificial intelligence business development in 2016, according to her LinkedIn. By late 2017, she was appointed vice president of health care. She attends technology conferences around the world, and delivers speeches on behalf of the company.
In March, Powell appeared at GTC, Nvidia’s annual developer conference in San Jose, where she spoke about using AI to aid in breakthroughs in health care and biology. Her presentation used cartoon depictions of Huang.
During the conference, Nvidia executives were at a nearby hotel for meetings. Huang and Powell were seen being affectionate at the hotel. One bystander captured the interaction on their phone.
Huang’s security witnessed the bystander with their phone and sequestered them. They made the person an offer to sign a nondisclosure agreement.
Huang is among a long list of chief executives of American companies who have had relationships with subordinates. Brian Krzanich resigned in 2018 from Intel after acknowledging a “past consensual relationship” with an employee.
The following year, McDonald’s removed Steve Easterbrook as its chief executive and later sued him after learning he had violated corporate policies by maintaining sexual relationships with multiple employees.
nytimes.com/2026/11/11/techn…
226
👇🏻
Jensen Huang also had an extramarital relationship with an executive who reports to him. The relationship, which has not been previously reported, was with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of health care. Under Nvidia’s code of conduct, employees are told to “avoid situations where our actions create conflict” including “personal relationships,” and the company states that it “promptly investigates reports of misconduct.” Many corporations have policies against managers having relationships with subordinates.
Huang and Powell, 48, were captured on video being affectionate at a San Jose, Calif., hotel during a Nvidia conference in March.
Both Huang and Powell are married to other people.
Huang, who co-founded Nvidia in 1993 and has turned it into the premier supplier of AI chips, has been under intensifying scrutiny. Last month, Alice Huang, a Chinese executive he had become close to, had been identified by US officials as a Chinese intelligence asset.
This month, after Huang acknowledged the affair, Nvidia’s board opened an investigation into the matter that is being led by the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. The Republican leaders of three influential House committees have also asked Huang to appear for a closed-door briefing on his interactions with Alice Huang.
When reached by phone on Nov 11 and asked about his relationship with Powell, Huang said, “I don’t think you should be talking to me directly.” He then hung up.
Huang’s relationship with Powell has been discussed inside the company.
Powell joined Nvidia in 2008. She oversees programs that could apply Nvidia’s chip technology to higher education and health care, particularly medical imaging devices.
Powell has risen through Nvidia’s ranks. She was promoted to senior director of artificial intelligence business development in 2016, according to her LinkedIn. By late 2017, she was appointed vice president of health care. She attends technology conferences around the world, and delivers speeches on behalf of the company.
In March, Powell appeared at GTC, Nvidia’s annual developer conference in San Jose, where she spoke about using AI to aid in breakthroughs in health care and biology. Her presentation used cartoon depictions of Huang.
During the conference, Nvidia executives were at a nearby hotel for meetings. Huang and Powell were seen being affectionate at the hotel. One bystander captured the interaction on their phone.
Huang’s security witnessed the bystander with their phone and sequestered them. They made the person an offer to sign a nondisclosure agreement.
Huang is among a long list of chief executives of American companies who have had relationships with subordinates. Brian Krzanich resigned in 2018 from Intel after acknowledging a “past consensual relationship” with an employee.
The following year, McDonald’s removed Steve Easterbrook as its chief executive and later sued him after learning he had violated corporate policies by maintaining sexual relationships with multiple employees.
nytimes.com/2026/11/11/techn…
297
👇🏻
Jensen Huang also had an extramarital relationship with an executive who reports to him. The relationship, which has not been previously reported, was with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of health care. Under Nvidia’s code of conduct, employees are told to “avoid situations where our actions create conflict” including “personal relationships,” and the company states that it “promptly investigates reports of misconduct.” Many corporations have policies against managers having relationships with subordinates.
Huang and Powell, 48, were captured on video being affectionate at a San Jose, Calif., hotel during a Nvidia conference in March.
Both Huang and Powell are married to other people.
Huang, who co-founded Nvidia in 1993 and has turned it into the premier supplier of AI chips, has been under intensifying scrutiny. Last month, Alice Huang, a Chinese executive he had become close to, had been identified by US officials as a Chinese intelligence asset.
This month, after Huang acknowledged the affair, Nvidia’s board opened an investigation into the matter that is being led by the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. The Republican leaders of three influential House committees have also asked Huang to appear for a closed-door briefing on his interactions with Alice Huang.
When reached by phone on Nov 11 and asked about his relationship with Powell, Huang said, “I don’t think you should be talking to me directly.” He then hung up.
Huang’s relationship with Powell has been discussed inside the company.
Powell joined Nvidia in 2008. She oversees programs that could apply Nvidia’s chip technology to higher education and health care, particularly medical imaging devices.
Powell has risen through Nvidia’s ranks. She was promoted to senior director of artificial intelligence business development in 2016, according to her LinkedIn. By late 2017, she was appointed vice president of health care. She attends technology conferences around the world, and delivers speeches on behalf of the company.
In March, Powell appeared at GTC, Nvidia’s annual developer conference in San Jose, where she spoke about using AI to aid in breakthroughs in health care and biology. Her presentation used cartoon depictions of Huang.
During the conference, Nvidia executives were at a nearby hotel for meetings. Huang and Powell were seen being affectionate at the hotel. One bystander captured the interaction on their phone.
Huang’s security witnessed the bystander with their phone and sequestered them. They made the person an offer to sign a nondisclosure agreement.
Huang is among a long list of chief executives of American companies who have had relationships with subordinates. Brian Krzanich resigned in 2018 from Intel after acknowledging a “past consensual relationship” with an employee.
The following year, McDonald’s removed Steve Easterbrook as its chief executive and later sued him after learning he had violated corporate policies by maintaining sexual relationships with multiple employees.
nytimes.com/2026/11/11/techn…
270
👇🏻
Jensen Huang also had an extramarital relationship with an executive who reports to him. The relationship, which has not been previously reported, was with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of health care. Under Nvidia’s code of conduct, employees are told to “avoid situations where our actions create conflict” including “personal relationships,” and the company states that it “promptly investigates reports of misconduct.” Many corporations have policies against managers having relationships with subordinates.
Huang and Powell, 48, were captured on video being affectionate at a San Jose, Calif., hotel during a Nvidia conference in March.
Both Huang and Powell are married to other people.
Huang, who co-founded Nvidia in 1993 and has turned it into the premier supplier of AI chips, has been under intensifying scrutiny. Last month, Alice Huang, a Chinese executive he had become close to, had been identified by US officials as a Chinese intelligence asset.
This month, after Huang acknowledged the affair, Nvidia’s board opened an investigation into the matter that is being led by the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. The Republican leaders of three influential House committees have also asked Huang to appear for a closed-door briefing on his interactions with Alice Huang.
When reached by phone on Nov 11 and asked about his relationship with Powell, Huang said, “I don’t think you should be talking to me directly.” He then hung up.
Huang’s relationship with Powell has been discussed inside the company.
Powell joined Nvidia in 2008. She oversees programs that could apply Nvidia’s chip technology to higher education and health care, particularly medical imaging devices.
Powell has risen through Nvidia’s ranks. She was promoted to senior director of artificial intelligence business development in 2016, according to her LinkedIn. By late 2017, she was appointed vice president of health care. She attends technology conferences around the world, and delivers speeches on behalf of the company.
In March, Powell appeared at GTC, Nvidia’s annual developer conference in San Jose, where she spoke about using AI to aid in breakthroughs in health care and biology. Her presentation used cartoon depictions of Huang.
During the conference, Nvidia executives were at a nearby hotel for meetings. Huang and Powell were seen being affectionate at the hotel. One bystander captured the interaction on their phone.
Huang’s security witnessed the bystander with their phone and sequestered them. They made the person an offer to sign a nondisclosure agreement.
Huang is among a long list of chief executives of American companies who have had relationships with subordinates. Brian Krzanich resigned in 2018 from Intel after acknowledging a “past consensual relationship” with an employee.
The following year, McDonald’s removed Steve Easterbrook as its chief executive and later sued him after learning he had violated corporate policies by maintaining sexual relationships with multiple employees.
nytimes.com/2026/11/11/techn…
1
442
👇🏻
Jensen Huang also had an extramarital relationship with an executive who reports to him. The relationship, which has not been previously reported, was with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of health care. Under Nvidia’s code of conduct, employees are told to “avoid situations where our actions create conflict” including “personal relationships,” and the company states that it “promptly investigates reports of misconduct.” Many corporations have policies against managers having relationships with subordinates.
Huang and Powell, 48, were captured on video being affectionate at a San Jose, Calif., hotel during a Nvidia conference in March.
Both Huang and Powell are married to other people.
Huang, who co-founded Nvidia in 1993 and has turned it into the premier supplier of AI chips, has been under intensifying scrutiny. Last month, Alice Huang, a Chinese executive he had become close to, had been identified by US officials as a Chinese intelligence asset.
This month, after Huang acknowledged the affair, Nvidia’s board opened an investigation into the matter that is being led by the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. The Republican leaders of three influential House committees have also asked Huang to appear for a closed-door briefing on his interactions with Alice Huang.
When reached by phone on Nov 11 and asked about his relationship with Powell, Huang said, “I don’t think you should be talking to me directly.” He then hung up.
Huang’s relationship with Powell has been discussed inside the company.
Powell joined Nvidia in 2008. She oversees programs that could apply Nvidia’s chip technology to higher education and health care, particularly medical imaging devices.
Powell has risen through Nvidia’s ranks. She was promoted to senior director of artificial intelligence business development in 2016, according to her LinkedIn. By late 2017, she was appointed vice president of health care. She attends technology conferences around the world, and delivers speeches on behalf of the company.
In March, Powell appeared at GTC, Nvidia’s annual developer conference in San Jose, where she spoke about using AI to aid in breakthroughs in health care and biology. Her presentation used cartoon depictions of Huang.
During the conference, Nvidia executives were at a nearby hotel for meetings. Huang and Powell were seen being affectionate at the hotel. One bystander captured the interaction on their phone.
Huang’s security witnessed the bystander with their phone and sequestered them. They made the person an offer to sign a nondisclosure agreement.
Huang is among a long list of chief executives of American companies who have had relationships with subordinates. Brian Krzanich resigned in 2018 from Intel after acknowledging a “past consensual relationship” with an employee.
The following year, McDonald’s removed Steve Easterbrook as its chief executive and later sued him after learning he had violated corporate policies by maintaining sexual relationships with multiple employees.
nytimes.com/2026/11/11/techn…
2
1,429
👇🏻
Jensen Huang also had an extramarital relationship with an executive who reports to him. The relationship, which has not been previously reported, was with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of health care. Under Nvidia’s code of conduct, employees are told to “avoid situations where our actions create conflict” including “personal relationships,” and the company states that it “promptly investigates reports of misconduct.” Many corporations have policies against managers having relationships with subordinates.
Huang and Powell, 48, were captured on video being affectionate at a San Jose, Calif., hotel during a Nvidia conference in March.
Both Huang and Powell are married to other people.
Huang, who co-founded Nvidia in 1993 and has turned it into the premier supplier of AI chips, has been under intensifying scrutiny. Last month, Alice Huang, a Chinese executive he had become close to, had been identified by US officials as a Chinese intelligence asset.
This month, after Huang acknowledged the affair, Nvidia’s board opened an investigation into the matter that is being led by the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. The Republican leaders of three influential House committees have also asked Huang to appear for a closed-door briefing on his interactions with Alice Huang.
When reached by phone on Nov 11 and asked about his relationship with Powell, Huang said, “I don’t think you should be talking to me directly.” He then hung up.
Huang’s relationship with Powell has been discussed inside the company.
Powell joined Nvidia in 2008. She oversees programs that could apply Nvidia’s chip technology to higher education and health care, particularly medical imaging devices.
Powell has risen through Nvidia’s ranks. She was promoted to senior director of artificial intelligence business development in 2016, according to her LinkedIn. By late 2017, she was appointed vice president of health care. She attends technology conferences around the world, and delivers speeches on behalf of the company.
In March, Powell appeared at GTC, Nvidia’s annual developer conference in San Jose, where she spoke about using AI to aid in breakthroughs in health care and biology. Her presentation used cartoon depictions of Huang.
During the conference, Nvidia executives were at a nearby hotel for meetings. Huang and Powell were seen being affectionate at the hotel. One bystander captured the interaction on their phone.
Huang’s security witnessed the bystander with their phone and sequestered them. They made the person an offer to sign a nondisclosure agreement.
Huang is among a long list of chief executives of American companies who have had relationships with subordinates. Brian Krzanich resigned in 2018 from Intel after acknowledging a “past consensual relationship” with an employee.
The following year, McDonald’s removed Steve Easterbrook as its chief executive and later sued him after learning he had violated corporate policies by maintaining sexual relationships with multiple employees.
nytimes.com/2026/11/11/techn…
1
521
👇🏻
Jensen Huang also had an extramarital relationship with an executive who reports to him. The relationship, which has not been previously reported, was with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of health care. Under Nvidia’s code of conduct, employees are told to “avoid situations where our actions create conflict” including “personal relationships,” and the company states that it “promptly investigates reports of misconduct.” Many corporations have policies against managers having relationships with subordinates.
Huang and Powell, 48, were captured on video being affectionate at a San Jose, Calif., hotel during a Nvidia conference in March.
Both Huang and Powell are married to other people.
Huang, who co-founded Nvidia in 1993 and has turned it into the premier supplier of AI chips, has been under intensifying scrutiny. Last month, Alice Huang, a Chinese executive he had become close to, had been identified by US officials as a Chinese intelligence asset.
This month, after Huang acknowledged the affair, Nvidia’s board opened an investigation into the matter that is being led by the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. The Republican leaders of three influential House committees have also asked Huang to appear for a closed-door briefing on his interactions with Alice Huang.
When reached by phone on Nov 11 and asked about his relationship with Powell, Huang said, “I don’t think you should be talking to me directly.” He then hung up.
Huang’s relationship with Powell has been discussed inside the company.
Powell joined Nvidia in 2008. She oversees programs that could apply Nvidia’s chip technology to higher education and health care, particularly medical imaging devices.
Powell has risen through Nvidia’s ranks. She was promoted to senior director of artificial intelligence business development in 2016, according to her LinkedIn. By late 2017, she was appointed vice president of health care. She attends technology conferences around the world, and delivers speeches on behalf of the company.
In March, Powell appeared at GTC, Nvidia’s annual developer conference in San Jose, where she spoke about using AI to aid in breakthroughs in health care and biology. Her presentation used cartoon depictions of Huang.
During the conference, Nvidia executives were at a nearby hotel for meetings. Huang and Powell were seen being affectionate at the hotel. One bystander captured the interaction on their phone.
Huang’s security witnessed the bystander with their phone and sequestered them. They made the person an offer to sign a nondisclosure agreement.
Huang is among a long list of chief executives of American companies who have had relationships with subordinates. Brian Krzanich resigned in 2018 from Intel after acknowledging a “past consensual relationship” with an employee.
The following year, McDonald’s removed Steve Easterbrook as its chief executive and later sued him after learning he had violated corporate policies by maintaining sexual relationships with multiple employees.
nytimes.com/2026/11/11/techn…
397
👇🏻
Jensen Huang also had an extramarital relationship with an executive who reports to him. The relationship, which has not been previously reported, was with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of health care. Under Nvidia’s code of conduct, employees are told to “avoid situations where our actions create conflict” including “personal relationships,” and the company states that it “promptly investigates reports of misconduct.” Many corporations have policies against managers having relationships with subordinates.
Huang and Powell, 48, were captured on video being affectionate at a San Jose, Calif., hotel during a Nvidia conference in March.
Both Huang and Powell are married to other people.
Huang, who co-founded Nvidia in 1993 and has turned it into the premier supplier of AI chips, has been under intensifying scrutiny. Last month, Alice Huang, a Chinese executive he had become close to, had been identified by US officials as a Chinese intelligence asset.
This month, after Huang acknowledged the affair, Nvidia’s board opened an investigation into the matter that is being led by the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. The Republican leaders of three influential House committees have also asked Huang to appear for a closed-door briefing on his interactions with Alice Huang.
When reached by phone on Nov 11 and asked about his relationship with Powell, Huang said, “I don’t think you should be talking to me directly.” He then hung up.
Huang’s relationship with Powell has been discussed inside the company.
Powell joined Nvidia in 2008. She oversees programs that could apply Nvidia’s chip technology to higher education and health care, particularly medical imaging devices.
Powell has risen through Nvidia’s ranks. She was promoted to senior director of artificial intelligence business development in 2016, according to her LinkedIn. By late 2017, she was appointed vice president of health care. She attends technology conferences around the world, and delivers speeches on behalf of the company.
In March, Powell appeared at GTC, Nvidia’s annual developer conference in San Jose, where she spoke about using AI to aid in breakthroughs in health care and biology. Her presentation used cartoon depictions of Huang.
During the conference, Nvidia executives were at a nearby hotel for meetings. Huang and Powell were seen being affectionate at the hotel. One bystander captured the interaction on their phone.
Huang’s security witnessed the bystander with their phone and sequestered them. They made the person an offer to sign a nondisclosure agreement.
Huang is among a long list of chief executives of American companies who have had relationships with subordinates. Brian Krzanich resigned in 2018 from Intel after acknowledging a “past consensual relationship” with an employee.
The following year, McDonald’s removed Steve Easterbrook as its chief executive and later sued him after learning he had violated corporate policies by maintaining sexual relationships with multiple employees.
nytimes.com/2026/11/11/techn…
137
👇🏻
Jensen Huang also had an extramarital relationship with an executive who reports to him. The relationship, which has not been previously reported, was with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of health care. Under Nvidia’s code of conduct, employees are told to “avoid situations where our actions create conflict” including “personal relationships,” and the company states that it “promptly investigates reports of misconduct.” Many corporations have policies against managers having relationships with subordinates.
Huang and Powell, 48, were captured on video being affectionate at a San Jose, Calif., hotel during a Nvidia conference in March.
Both Huang and Powell are married to other people.
Huang, who co-founded Nvidia in 1993 and has turned it into the premier supplier of AI chips, has been under intensifying scrutiny. Last month, Alice Huang, a Chinese executive he had become close to, had been identified by US officials as a Chinese intelligence asset.
This month, after Huang acknowledged the affair, Nvidia’s board opened an investigation into the matter that is being led by the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. The Republican leaders of three influential House committees have also asked Huang to appear for a closed-door briefing on his interactions with Alice Huang.
When reached by phone on Nov 11 and asked about his relationship with Powell, Huang said, “I don’t think you should be talking to me directly.” He then hung up.
Huang’s relationship with Powell has been discussed inside the company.
Powell joined Nvidia in 2008. She oversees programs that could apply Nvidia’s chip technology to higher education and health care, particularly medical imaging devices.
Powell has risen through Nvidia’s ranks. She was promoted to senior director of artificial intelligence business development in 2016, according to her LinkedIn. By late 2017, she was appointed vice president of health care. She attends technology conferences around the world, and delivers speeches on behalf of the company.
In March, Powell appeared at GTC, Nvidia’s annual developer conference in San Jose, where she spoke about using AI to aid in breakthroughs in health care and biology. Her presentation used cartoon depictions of Huang.
During the conference, Nvidia executives were at a nearby hotel for meetings. Huang and Powell were seen being affectionate at the hotel. One bystander captured the interaction on their phone.
Huang’s security witnessed the bystander with their phone and sequestered them. They made the person an offer to sign a nondisclosure agreement.
Huang is among a long list of chief executives of American companies who have had relationships with subordinates. Brian Krzanich resigned in 2018 from Intel after acknowledging a “past consensual relationship” with an employee.
The following year, McDonald’s removed Steve Easterbrook as its chief executive and later sued him after learning he had violated corporate policies by maintaining sexual relationships with multiple employees.
nytimes.com/2026/11/11/techn…
297
👇🏻
Jensen Huang also had an extramarital relationship with an executive who reports to him. The relationship, which has not been previously reported, was with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of health care. Under Nvidia’s code of conduct, employees are told to “avoid situations where our actions create conflict” including “personal relationships,” and the company states that it “promptly investigates reports of misconduct.” Many corporations have policies against managers having relationships with subordinates.
Huang and Powell, 48, were captured on video being affectionate at a San Jose, Calif., hotel during a Nvidia conference in March.
Both Huang and Powell are married to other people.
Huang, who co-founded Nvidia in 1993 and has turned it into the premier supplier of AI chips, has been under intensifying scrutiny. Last month, Alice Huang, a Chinese executive he had become close to, had been identified by US officials as a Chinese intelligence asset.
This month, after Huang acknowledged the affair, Nvidia’s board opened an investigation into the matter that is being led by the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. The Republican leaders of three influential House committees have also asked Huang to appear for a closed-door briefing on his interactions with Alice Huang.
When reached by phone on Nov 11 and asked about his relationship with Powell, Huang said, “I don’t think you should be talking to me directly.” He then hung up.
Huang’s relationship with Powell has been discussed inside the company.
Powell joined Nvidia in 2008. She oversees programs that could apply Nvidia’s chip technology to higher education and health care, particularly medical imaging devices.
Powell has risen through Nvidia’s ranks. She was promoted to senior director of artificial intelligence business development in 2016, according to her LinkedIn. By late 2017, she was appointed vice president of health care. She attends technology conferences around the world, and delivers speeches on behalf of the company.
In March, Powell appeared at GTC, Nvidia’s annual developer conference in San Jose, where she spoke about using AI to aid in breakthroughs in health care and biology. Her presentation used cartoon depictions of Huang.
During the conference, Nvidia executives were at a nearby hotel for meetings. Huang and Powell were seen being affectionate at the hotel. One bystander captured the interaction on their phone.
Huang’s security witnessed the bystander with their phone and sequestered them. They made the person an offer to sign a nondisclosure agreement.
Huang is among a long list of chief executives of American companies who have had relationships with subordinates. Brian Krzanich resigned in 2018 from Intel after acknowledging a “past consensual relationship” with an employee.
The following year, McDonald’s removed Steve Easterbrook as its chief executive and later sued him after learning he had violated corporate policies by maintaining sexual relationships with multiple employees.
nytimes.com/2026/11/11/techn…
169
👇🏻
Jensen Huang also had an extramarital relationship with an executive who reports to him. The relationship, which has not been previously reported, was with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of health care. Under Nvidia’s code of conduct, employees are told to “avoid situations where our actions create conflict” including “personal relationships,” and the company states that it “promptly investigates reports of misconduct.” Many corporations have policies against managers having relationships with subordinates.
Huang and Powell, 48, were captured on video being affectionate at a San Jose, Calif., hotel during a Nvidia conference in March.
Both Huang and Powell are married to other people.
Huang, who co-founded Nvidia in 1993 and has turned it into the premier supplier of AI chips, has been under intensifying scrutiny. Last month, Alice Huang, a Chinese executive he had become close to, had been identified by US officials as a Chinese intelligence asset.
This month, after Huang acknowledged the affair, Nvidia’s board opened an investigation into the matter that is being led by the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. The Republican leaders of three influential House committees have also asked Huang to appear for a closed-door briefing on his interactions with Alice Huang.
When reached by phone on Nov 11 and asked about his relationship with Powell, Huang said, “I don’t think you should be talking to me directly.” He then hung up.
Huang’s relationship with Powell has been discussed inside the company.
Powell joined Nvidia in 2008. She oversees programs that could apply Nvidia’s chip technology to higher education and health care, particularly medical imaging devices.
Powell has risen through Nvidia’s ranks. She was promoted to senior director of artificial intelligence business development in 2016, according to her LinkedIn. By late 2017, she was appointed vice president of health care. She attends technology conferences around the world, and delivers speeches on behalf of the company.
In March, Powell appeared at GTC, Nvidia’s annual developer conference in San Jose, where she spoke about using AI to aid in breakthroughs in health care and biology. Her presentation used cartoon depictions of Huang.
During the conference, Nvidia executives were at a nearby hotel for meetings. Huang and Powell were seen being affectionate at the hotel. One bystander captured the interaction on their phone.
Huang’s security witnessed the bystander with their phone and sequestered them. They made the person an offer to sign a nondisclosure agreement.
Huang is among a long list of chief executives of American companies who have had relationships with subordinates. Brian Krzanich resigned in 2018 from Intel after acknowledging a “past consensual relationship” with an employee.
The following year, McDonald’s removed Steve Easterbrook as its chief executive and later sued him after learning he had violated corporate policies by maintaining sexual relationships with multiple employees.
nytimes.com/2026/11/11/techn…
1
835