Nvidia's shares drop over 5% on Monday following CEO Huang's alleged link to Chinese spy

New Delhi: Shares of US-based technology giant Nvidia fell more than 5 per cent in out-of-hours trading on Monday following an internal investigation into whether its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Jensen Huang, was targeted by a foreign intelligence operation, according to Reuters.

At the time of reporting, Nvidia-linked perpetual futures on the Hyperliquid platform and after-hours trading on the Blue Ocean Alternative Trading System (BOATS) were around USD 175.97. This marked a decline of USD 10.74, or 5.75 per cent, from Friday's Nasdaq closing price of USD 186.64.

The developments have raised concerns about the company's leadership at a time when Nvidia remains a key player in the global artificial intelligence (AI) expansion, particularly in the semiconductor and data centre markets.

Nvidia began an internal corporate review on Sunday following reports about Huang's close association with a Chinese businesswoman who allegedly passed sensitive information to Beijing. Huang reportedly told employees that he had been unfaithful to his wife but did not provide further details.

Commenting on the impact of the developments on Nvidia's shares, Chris Weston, head of research at Melbourne-based brokerage Pepperstone, said the situation had added to market uncertainty.

"The market's probably telling you, now this does no favours to the stock whatsoever in a time when there's a lot of conjecture as to the build out of data centres," Reuters quoted Weston as saying.

However, Weston said an immediate change in the company's leadership appeared unlikely despite the ongoing investigation.

"If we genuinely thought he was going to step down ... the stock would be down — it would be an absolute bloodbath, to be honest," he said.

Public records and earlier reports indicated that US authorities had investigated the businesswoman, an unrelated former executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed, and identified her as an intelligence asset.

The developments also resulted in corporate engagements being cancelled abroad. Huang's daughter, Madison Huang, who is also an Nvidia executive, cancelled her scheduled meetings with South Korean technology companies, citing unavoidable internal issues.

Bill Ackman, founder of Pershing Square Capital Management, expressed concern over the developments on social media platform X, while acknowledging Huang's professional reputation.

"I am hoping for a simple affair, not a risk to our national security," he said.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk also commented on the issue by agreeing with a post by Sequoia partner Shaun Maguire. Maguire said Huang "did something incredibly dumb" that was "bad for America" but that "Jensen is irreplaceable for America's AI leadership".

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that he had not discussed the developments with Huang. He described the Nvidia chief as an honourable person and said his professional record had been strong.

"No, I don't think so. I think he's an honorable guy. I think he probably has an excuse for it. You have to hear it," Trump said when asked whether action was warranted after intelligence officials initially briefed him.

Market analysts warned that a prolonged investigation could delay administrative processes related to future semiconductor investments and regional shipments.

However, South Korea's deputy science minister said that contracted deliveries of graphics processing units (GPUs) from Nvidia remained unaffected.