Nvidia board weighs Jensen Huang’s future as mounting scandal upends US tech giant

Jensen Huang has spent years cultivating a personal relationship with Taiwan, the island of his birth.

Whenever he visits, he eats at local restaurants, speaks comfortably in Taiwanese Hokkien as well as Mandarin, poses for endless selfies and signs autographs – including at least once across a female fan’s chest – turning routine business trips into media events.

For many here, Nvidia’s success feels partly their own – reflected in the surging stock prices in Taiwan and the booming export figures driven by huge demand for AI.

And Huang – who was born in the city of Tainan and spent the first five years of his life on the island – is one of their own. He has lavishly praised Taiwan and given it massive global visibility.

Tim Culpan, a technology journalist who has known Huang for more than 25 years, says the affair itself isn’t necessarily what troubles Taiwanese people most; it’s the reported connection to Chinese intelligence.

Up until now it’s been a mutually beneficial relationship. Taiwan produces the advanced chips underpinning Nvidia’s dominance, while facing daily pressure from Beijing, which considers Taiwan part of its territory. The possibility that someone close to Huang was working for Chinese intelligence touches a particularly raw nerve.

There’s money at stake, too. Many Taiwanese own shares in Nvidia or its local suppliers. TSMC – the island’s crown jewel, which produces more than 90% of the world’s advanced microchips – makes up roughly 40% of Taiwan’s benchmark stock index alone.

Nvidia is also investing more than $1 billion in a new Taipei headquarters, expected to open in 2030 – a major bet on Taiwan that city officials insist remains on track despite the scandal.

Huang’s popularity won’t disappear overnight. But in Taiwan, where business, technology and homeland security are inseparable, this is no longer just a story about his private life.