AI's rally is splitting by business model. The Nasdaq closed up 1.6% as chip and infrastructure shares surged, while Microsoft was down about 2.5% late in the session. Compute demand is visible; software displacement is still a hypothesis.
The WSJ reported that Nvidia’s board was preparing to oust Huang and could meet as soon as Wednesday to decide his future. A source told Reuters the board was meeting that day on the question. This compounded the earlier probe into the Alice Huang matter. The Trump administration was reportedly aware of the board’s plans. No official announcement of a final decision had come out by early Thursday.
The NYT reported that Huang had an extramarital relationship with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of healthcare, who reports directly to him. Citing multiple people who worked at the company, it said the two (both married to others) were filmed being affectionate at a San Jose hotel during Nvidia’s GTC conference in March. Huang’s security team allegedly sequestered a bystander who recorded it and offered an NDA. When a Times reporter contacted him, Huang reportedly said “I don’t think you should be talking to me directly” and hung up. Nvidia’s code of conduct flags personal relationships that create conflicts. Neither Huang, Powell, nor the company confirmed the report at the time.
Nvidia shares had rebounded during regular trading Wednesday (roughly +3% after prior losses, helped by broader tech/AI sentiment including CoreWeave news). They then fell sharply in after-hours trading—about 8–9% at points, trading around the $159–160 range in some reports—as the NYT and WSJ stories hit. The cumulative hit for the week was substantial (hundreds of billions in market value).
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