Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang loses $7.4bn in 30 minutes, drops 2 spots in Forbes rich list

The investigation follows a report by The New York Times last month that US intelligence agencies had identified a close relationship between Huang and Alice Huang, a Chinese citizen suspected by Washington of gathering information for Beijing.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang slipped to 10th place on Forbes’ list of the world’s richest people after his net worth plunged by $7.4 billion on Monday. The drop followed a sharp fall in the company’s share price amid an investigation into his relationship with an alleged Chinese spy.Huang’s net worth dropped from $162.2 billion to $154.7 billion within the first half-hour of trading, pushing him down two places from No. 8 to No. 10 in the Forbes real-time billionaire rankings, according to a report by Forbes. He briefly fell out of the top 10 after Nvidia shares opened more than 7 per cent lower, wiping out $10.3 billion from his fortune.Nvidia shares were down 5.5 per cent at 1.30 pm EST on Monday, after falling as much as 7 per cent in premarket trading.

This was the first trading session since the company confirmed an investigation into Huang. The development also put him below Berkshire Hathaway chairman Warren Buffett and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison in the billionaire rankings.The fall in Nvidia shares also hit the company's market value. Its market capitalisation dropped from $4.5 trillion at Friday's close to $4.24 trillion by 1.30 pm EST on Monday. Nvidia has frequently competed with Apple for the position of the world's most valuable publicly traded company.

The share price decline followed Huang's admission on Sunday that he had an affair. In a statement to employees, he apologised for his actions and said he supported the company's investigation.Nvidia's board said it had appointed a committee of independent directors, along with external legal counsel, to examine all available information. However, it added that it had "no reason to believe that either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised."The investigation follows a report by The New York Times last month that US intelligence agencies had identified a close relationship between Huang and Alice Huang, a Chinese citizen suspected by Washington of gathering information for Beijing.

Allegation against Alice Huang

According to The New York Times, Alice Huang was recruited by Beijing's top spy agency to collect information on Jensen Huang for China's ministry of state security. The report cited a memo circulated within the Trump administration.It remains unclear when the two first met. However, they were photographed together at a bar in June 2024.

A photo shows NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang with a woman confirmed by a Reuters source to be Alice Huang in Taipei, Taiwan released on June 7, 2024.

Alice Huang has also reportedly had connections with other artificial intelligence chip industry leaders, including executives at Gigabyte, a company that assembles Nvidia supercomputers.She has described herself as the chief executive of Singapore-based neocloud and AI computing services provider Megaspeed.

However, the company removed her as managing director from its official paperwork after the first eight months, according to The New York Times.Megaspeed was established in 2023 after Chinese gaming and cloud computing company 7Road spun off its overseas operations in Singapore. The company partners with Nvidia and supplies its technology across the Asia-Pacific region.US authorities have been investigating the company's possible role in China's access to Nvidia chips since 2024.

A Commerce Department official had found Nvidia equipment still packed in boxes at a data centre site in Malaysia, raising concerns that it could be shipped elsewhere.

Trump defends Nvidia chief

US intelligence officials had briefed President Donald Trump about their findings concerning Alice Huang around a year ago, The New York Times reported. However, Trump did not take action at the time.An Nvidia spokesperson had earlier told the newspaper that "Jensen’s interactions with Ms Huang are not unusual or unexpected," adding that meeting customers was part of his job.Huang has also emerged as an ally and technology adviser to Trump. The US president rolled back restrictions introduced by the Biden administration in 2022 to limit global exports of advanced AI chips.Trump defended the Nvidia chief on Sunday night, calling him an "honorable guy". He also said he would still include Huang in his upcoming visit to China.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and his wife Lori Huang attend the 12th Breakthrough Prize ceremony gala in Santa Monica, California, US on April 18

What lies ahead for Nvidia

The investigation comes at a crucial time for Nvidia, which is scheduled to announce its quarterly earnings next Tuesday after the market closes.The company's second-quarter results showed its data centre business generating $89 billion in revenue, up 117 per cent year-on-year. The segment accounted for around 92 per cent of Nvidia's total revenue for the quarter, while overall revenue stood at $96.2 billion, beating expectations.Nvidia was also the only company among the so-called Magnificent Seven, a group comprising Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Nvidia, Meta and Tesla, to record a premarket decline on Monday.