'Human in the loop': How a man, woman and their affair affected AI stocks – the Jensen Huang aftermath for Nvidia and others

‘Human in the loop’ is a key layer of safety and trust in artificial intelligence: the principle that people, not just algorithms, oversee AI systems and can review, correct or override their decisions before those decisions take effect. But the human failings of one man, the head of a top AI chip company, are now moving AI stocks, bleeding some and benefiting others. Here is how AI-related stocks performed since Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang admitted to an extramarital affair with Alice Huang (no relation), a businesswoman whom US intelligence officials reportedly suspect of spying for China. Beijing has dismissed the allegations, and Nvidia's board has opened an independent probe.

Nvidia took the main hit

Nvidia's stock took the biggest hit after Huang's admission and the board probe. It fell 4.3 per cent to $178.67 on Monday (Nov 9), and a further 5.5 per cent to $168.89 on Tuesday. The two-day fall of from Friday's close of $186.64 wiped out about $476 billion in market value, according to AIStockwire. Monday's fall came even as the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index jumped nearly 7 per cent. The stock was already more than 21 per cent below its early-October peak before the affair became public. The scandal only accelerated the slide. Tuesday's losses deepened after The Information reported that a network linked to Alice Huang helped move at least $7.5 billion worth of Nvidia chips to Chinese firms. Now, Nvidia and Huang face a shareholder lawsuit, accusing them of misleading investors.

Also read: Jensen Huang-Alice Huang affair: Everyone has a theory, and some conspiracy theories too, about what really happened

Softbank, linked to Nvidia took a hit, partly due to its own net loss

Shares of SoftBank, once an investor of Nvidia, were hit, but due to a number of reasons. SoftBank has AI and data centre exposure. The investment company holds a 13 per cent stake in OpenAI, bought for $64.6 billion, and controls chip designer Arm and data centre developer SB Energy. Its Tokyo-listed shares fell as much as 10.5 per cent on Wednesday (Nov 11), after it reported an unexpected net loss of $7.1 billion for July–September, driven partly by a $3.7 billion charge on power equipment for US data centre projects, according to Investing.com. SoftBank's market value had already halved from its June 2 peak by late October amid cooling investor sentiment on AI and rising borrowing costs.

SoftBank's link to Huang is indirect but significant. Nvidia has committed a total of $3 billion to SB Energy and provided guarantees worth $105 billion for the Ohio data centre campus SB Energy is building for OpenAI. SoftBank itself no longer owns Nvidia stock, having sold its entire holdings in October 2025 to help fund its OpenAI investment.

Also read: Jensen Huang met Alice Huang through her husband who flaunted their closeness to clients, report claims

How AI Infra firm stocks fared in the wake of Huang scandal

AI infrastructure firms known as neoclouds, such as CoreWeave and Nebius, are among the most exposed. They are highly dependent on Nvidia for GPUs and capital, and on deals Huang backed. Nvidia invested $2 billion in CoreWeave in January and became its second-largest shareholder, and agreed in March to put $2 billion into Nebius for a stake of about 8.3 per cent. Those bets were largely Huang's own decisions, and anything that weakens him, weakens their strongest backer in effect. Their shares were already under heavy pressure before the scandal. CoreWeave is down 65 per cent from its high six months ago, and Nebius has fallen sharply since the US midterm elections, Bloomberg reported. But on Monday, both stocks rose on news of their own, with Nebius up about 9.5 per cent and CoreWeave about 6 per cent after a cloud computing deal with Wayve, while CoreWeave reported better-than-expected revenue.

Some rivals' stocks gained in the aftermath

Stocs of other chipmakers rose amid the Nvidia scandal. AMD surged 13.26 per cent to $508.58 on November 9, the first trading session after Huang's admission. The jump was also driven by a new Google Cloud collaboration and an upgrade from Oppenheimer. AMD rose a further 5.2 per cent on Tuesday.

Broadcom gained 8.78 per cent on Monday and 6.8 per cent on Tuesday. Intel rose about 5 per cent and ASML 6 per cent on Monday. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index jumped nearly 7 per cent on Monday, while leaving Nvidia the outlier loser, though part of that rally was a rebound from the previous Thursday's post-US midterm sell-off.

Bank of America said rivals such as AMD, Broadcom and Marvell Technology could gain traction if Nvidia becomes distracted, as what's happening is rotation of investor money among chipmakers.

Nvidia's slide also allowed Microsoft to briefly overtake it as the world's second most valuable company on Tuesday, for the first time since June 2025. Apple remained the most valuable.

In Asia, Nvidia's key chip suppliers rebounded on Monday after the previous week's sell-off of AI-related stocks. TSMC closed 4.7 per cent higher, while Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix ended up 0.6 per cent and 0.4 per cent, respectively.

A potential for future reverberations

Analysts at Bank of America said the key question is whether the scandal remains specific to Nvidia or triggers restrictions and disruption across AI infrastructure, though they cautioned against equating allegations with proven business damage. The bank kept its Buy rating and $350 price target for Nvidia, but removed it from its US 1 List of top stock picks. It also flagged a transmission risk if Nvidia becomes more cautious about funding the wider AI ecosystem. Projects that rely on that financing could slow, hitting demand for memory, networking and devices, it noted.

That risk stems from Nvidia's role at the centre of the industry as Huang has ploughed Nvidia's windfall into AI start-ups and labs that spend the money on its chips, as noted in an AFP report. This circular arrangement could spread any trouble at Nvidia across the industry.

The scandal has also spilled into policy, with Republicans as well as Democrats calling for immediate export controls on AI chips bound for China, which could have an effect on AI-linked stocks.

The scandal has only amplified an AI valuation reset that was already underway, driven by questions over returns on data centre spending, rising AI financing costs and the US midterm elections, which handed Democrats control of Congress. The next test comes on November 17, when Nvidia reports its quarterly earnings.