Nvidia’s stock was on track Tuesday to shed $470 billion in market value in a painful two-day wipeout as investors panic over CEO Jensen Huang’s affair with an alleged Chinese spy.
The storied chipmaker was last trading down 5.9% at $168.12 a share. Its market cap was just over $4 trillion – making it the world’s second-most valuable company, after Apple took the lead at roughly $5 trillion the day before.
Nvidia suffered a painful 4.3% drop on Monday after Huang, 63, admitted to an affair with Alice Huang – also known as Huang Le, no relation – a suspected Chinese spy. Nvidia’s board has launched an investigation, and the FBI is also looking into the relationship.
Traders are fearful that Nvidia would be doomed without Huang, who founded the semiconductor giant 33 years ago. He currently has 60 direct reports, no clear successor and a friendly relationship with President Trump – making him a difficult leader to replace.
But reports have emerged that Huang lobbied the US government to lift restrictions on exports to China during his scandalous, years-long affair with his Chinese paramour – even after Nvidia repeatedly denied that their relationship was anything but business.
The relationship ultimately helped facilitate shipments of at least $7.5 billion worth of Nvidia chips to Chinese firms, including Alibaba, Tencent and smaller AI labs, The Information reported Tuesday.
Alice – an executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed – had built a network of companies with her husband and sister across China and Singapore with the goal of acquiring powerful Nvidia chips despite a ban on exports, the report said.
In December 2025, Trump approved the sale of Nvidia’s H200 chips to China, with the feds collecting a fee for each chip – reversing a Biden-era halt on exports over national security concerns.
Jensen Huang had reportedly been lobbying the US government to allow the sale of chips to China. He attended a Mar-a-Lago dinner for top donors and gave roughly $25 million to Trump’s White House ballroom project, according to reports.
Trump told reporters Monday evening that he spoke with Huang and the Nvidia boss told him he had no idea his mistress was a Beijing honeypoint. The president has also defended Huang, calling him an “honorable guy” and saying “he probably has an excuse for it.”
Huang is facing calls to appear before Congress, receiving letters from the GOP chairs of House committees on China, foreign affairs and intelligence requesting that he join a joint, closed-door briefing with them on Nov. 18.
A secret, months-old government memo overseen by Secretary of State Marco Rubio found that Alice was allegedly recruited by China’s Ministry of State Security. China has denied accusations of coordinating a spy plot, calling it a smear campaign.
In an email to Nvidia staffers on Sunday, Huang admitted to the affair – though he did not mention accusations that Alice was a Chinese spy – and apologized to his family.
“To my wife and family: I love you,” Huang wrote, after stepping out on his wife and college sweetheart Lori after more than 40 years of marriage. “I know an apology cannot undo what I have done. I hope our family will heal and that, over time, I can earn back your trust.”
He also apologized to his colleagues, board members, partners and shareholders for falling short of his responsibilities as CEO, vowing to “work to earn back your confidence.”