“We gonna romp and tromp ‘til midnight; We gonna fuss and fight ‘til daylight; We gon’ pitch a wang dang doodle all night long.” – Willie Dixon
AI chipmaking giant Nvidia announced Sunday that its board is investigating whether CEO Jensen Huang was the target of a Chinese intelligence operation.
By midday Monday, Nvidia shares were down nearly 5%, wiping out more than $200 billion in market value – which is basically lunch-date money for the world’s most valuable company.
Congress is demanding answers. China is calling it a smear campaign, Wall Street was questioning Huang’s future. And his daughter, Madison Huang, an Nvidia executive, had to abruptly cancel her appearance at a South Korean technology conference.
She said it was for family issues. … Like maybe because, well, um, her dad is suddenly a global embarrassment?
All this fallout because a 63-year-old billionaire CEO admittedly had an extramarital affair with Alice Huang, a former executive at Megaspeed International, one of Nvidia’s biggest customers.
(In China, Huang is a more common surname than Smith in the U.S. so we’ll use first names from here. There’s no family relation.)
Whether Alice is a Chinese spy helping a communist rival win the AI race is still a question for investigators.
What’s obvious right now is that the CEO of a $4.5 trillion company risked his reputation, his company’s credibility and a multibillion-dollar customer relationship over an affair.
Jensen has admitted his infidelity and apologized to his family and colleagues.
Nividia’s board didn’t say it was investigating whether this was a violation of the company’s Code Of Ethics. And who cares about that in the C-Suite?
The code says personal relationships may create conflicts of interest. Then there’s this in Nvidia’s 2026 proxy statement:
“Employees, officers, and directors must avoid any activity that conflicts with, or has the appearance of conflicting with, our interests.”
This week’s shitstorm illustrates why corporate lawyers and HRexecutives worry about conflicts of interest. And the risks were foreseeable:
Megaspeed purchased more than $4.8 billion worth of Nvidia chips over two years. “Gee, sorry, honey, can’t see you anymore. Do we still have a deal?”
Megaspeed was under investigation for allegedly circumventing U.S. restrictions on advanced AI chips since at least October 2025. “Gee, honey, sometimes I get the feeling you’re using me.”
Megaspeed may have received preferential treatment, or at least that tha’ts a an open question. “Gee, honey, you didn’t get my best chips? How can I make it up to you?”
Megaspeed was already a reputational risk with Washington. “Gee, honey, they’re sure asking a lot of questions. Should we tell them about us?”
CEO dalliances are common blunders. We keep a list of the most consequential ones:
Read More: Lost In Love (Business Blunders)
Nvidia’s Code Of Ethics begins with a letter from Jensen:
“We encourage all our employees to uphold and be inspired by our core values and to always follow and apply Our Code in their work.
“Additionally, we recognize our responsibility to maintain high ethical standards and identify concerns through NVIDIA’s Speak Up hotline.”
For too many people at the top, corporate ethics codes are bunch of Huang Dang Doodle All Night Long.
