Jensen Huang has resigned as Nvidia’s chief executive, but the company still hasn’t addressed one of the reports that came just before he left. On Nov. 11, The New York Times reported that Huang had a relationship with Kimberly Powell, a senior Nvidia executive who reported to him. Nvidia declined to comment then, and its resignation announcement the next morning didn’t mention it.
The Times cited five people who worked at the company. Powell joined Nvidia in 2008 and became vice president of its healthcare business in 2017, Yahoo Finance reported, calling her “one of Huang’s 60 or so direct reports.” Neither she nor Huang has commented publicly on the report.
Huang has left, but the questions this report raises are about Nvidia itself. They concern a relationship inside its own reporting lines and a confidentiality offer reportedly made by company security.
What the Times reported on Nov. 11
We couldn’t open the Times story, which blocks our reader. This account relies on outlets that cite it: Yahoo Finance (Daniel Howley) and Investing.com.
According to those accounts, the Times reported that people saw Huang and Powell being affectionate at a San Jose hotel. That was in March, during GTC, Nvidia’s annual developer conference.
A bystander recorded the moment, the Times reported. Company security then “sequestered them” and offered a nondisclosure agreement, Yahoo Finance said. In Investing.com’s account, it was the bystander whom security sequestered and offered the agreement. The Times said it had not seen the video, and none of the accounts we read says whether anyone signed.
When a Times reporter called Huang, he said, “I don’t think you should be talking to me directly,” and ended the call, Investing.com reported.
Nvidia’s resignation filing is silent on it
Nvidia’s Form 8-K, filed Nov. 12, says the board accepted Huang’s resignation as president, CEO and director on Nov. 11, effective immediately. Chief financial officer Colette Kress is interim CEO. The filing and the company’s press release give no reason for the departure and don’t mention the Times report or the board’s investigation.
Our story on Huang’s resignation covers the filing, the stock’s fall and the dates ahead.
Powell’s only public move so far was to drop out of a scheduled appearance. She had been due on the opening panel of the Milken Institute’s Future of Health Summit in Washington on Thursday morning. Organizers told the moderator, CNN’s Meg Tirrell, that she had “cancelled her planned attendance,” Tirrell posted on X, Benzinga reported. That account gives no reason for the cancellation.
Nvidia hasn’t said whether her role has changed.
What Nvidia’s code of conduct says about relationships
We read Nvidia’s Code of Conduct, the 2023 edition linked from its company policies page. The public code has no specific rule on romantic relationships between managers and their reports. It treats personal relationships as a possible conflict of interest.
The code lists “Investments or personal relationships” among the activities that “may create a conflict of interest.” Employees must avoid conflicts, “actual or potential,” between personal gain and their duties to Nvidia. If one arises, the code says, “we immediately remove ourselves from any decision-making role in the matter.”
The detailed rules sit elsewhere. The code points staff to a separate Conflict of Interest Policy and to “Employment Legal for guidance.” That policy isn’t public, so what Nvidia requires a manager to disclose about a relationship with a direct report is not on the record.
“Every NVIDIA employee and board member is expected to read, understand, and comply with Our Code,” it says. The Compliance Committee investigates suspected violations “promptly, thoroughly, and in accordance with our legal obligations.” Nvidia’s Corporate Governance Policies repeat that directors must follow it.
The NDA, and what two federal rules cover
Two federal rules deal with confidentiality agreements. No report says either applies here, and whether either would is unknown.
The first is the Speak Out Act, signed on Dec. 7, 2022. Nondisclosure clauses “agreed to before the dispute arises” can’t be enforced where conduct “is alleged to have violated Federal, Tribal, or State law.” It reaches only sexual assault and sexual harassment disputes, as its definitions set out. No harassment claim appears in any account of the Times report that we read.
The second is the SEC’s Rule 21F-17. “No person may take any action to impede an individual from communicating directly with the Commission staff about a possible securities law violation,” it says, including by “enforcing, or threatening to enforce, a confidentiality agreement.” Nothing reported so far ties the offered agreement to the SEC.
What the reports do establish is narrower. The offer reportedly came from company security, at a company event, about the CEO’s conduct. Nvidia’s code tells employees to give “complete, accurate, and truthful information” to internal and external investigations.
Whether the board’s inquiry covers it
The board’s Nov. 8 statement opened the inquiry over reporting that Huang “has been the target of a foreign intelligence effort.” It said the inquiry “will examine all available information.” On Nov. 10, the independent directors said they had hired Joon H. Kim and his firm, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.
Neither statement mentions workplace relationships, and Nvidia hasn’t said whether the inquiry continues now that Huang has left. Our guide to Nvidia’s board of directors covers who sits on the independent committee.
The report also changes the comparison with other companies. In past cases where CEOs were ousted over relationships, boards tended to act on relationships the executive hadn’t disclosed, and Nestlé’s 2025 case involved a subordinate. Until Nov. 11, the reporting on Huang involved an executive at a customer. No report we read says whether Huang disclosed the relationship to anyone at Nvidia.
Nvidia’s next public appearance is its third-quarter earnings call on Tuesday, Nov. 17, at 2 p.m. PT, with Kress in charge. Only financial analysts and institutional investors can ask questions, the company says.
