Jen-Hsun Huang scandals explode! Huida's market value has evaporated by 18.8 trillion, and its stock price may continue to fall.

Jen-Hsun Huang, the CEO of Nvidia, a major American artificial intelligence (AI) chip manufacturer, resigned after being exposed for having an extramarital affair with a suspected Chinese female spy and a company executive. Nvidia's stock price plummeted 13% last week, and its market value evaporated by US$573 billion (NT$18.8 trillion). It was the largest single-week decline since US President Trump announced the implementation of "reciprocal tariffs" in April 2025.

Huida's stock price closed another 2% to US$162.85 on the 13th, bringing the decline in the past five trading days to 13%, the largest single-week decline since April 2025. The market value has evaporated by US$573 billion, which is greater than the market value of 96% of the S&P 500 constituent stocks. This is also the sixth consecutive week that Huida has closed in the black, the longest decline since 2012.

Huida shares have been under pressure since they hit a record high in early October. Before Jen-Hsun Huang stepped down due to the extramarital affair scandal, investors were concerned about whether the huge spending on AI infrastructure could be sustained. After the Democratic Party won both houses of Congress and many state governorships in the U.S. midterm elections, investors became even more worried as many governor-elects vowed to slow down the expansion of data centers.

After Huang Renxun admitted his extramarital affair, the outside world named the scandal targets, in addition to the suspected Chinese female spy Alice Huang, as well as Huida's female executives. Huang Renxun subsequently resigned and stepped down, and was replaced by Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress as acting CEO.

After the Jen-Hsun Huang scandal broke out, Wall Street analysts mostly turned to a wait-and-see attitude. At least 13 analysts tracking Huida will downgrade the company's investment ratings this month, mostly last week. Currently, 15 analysts have downgraded Huida's investment rating to "hold", the most since 2023. However, 66 analysts still recommend "buy" Huida, and only 1 analyst recommends "sell".

Truist analysts such as William Stein said Huang's resignation could harm Huida's corporate culture and future performance if Huida's high-end chips end up in Chinese hands. They downgraded Huida's investment rating from "buy" to "hold" and wrote: "This will make Huida's investment risk so high that it is impossible to predict its revenue or profits, thus leaving us with insufficient confidence to maintain a 'buy' rating."

As details of the Jen-Hsun Huang scandal gradually come to light, Huida's share price may face further downward pressure. Republican members of the House of Representatives said Huang has agreed to testify before Congress before the Thanksgiving holiday later this month.