Jensen Huang loses $4.6 billion as Nvidia board investigates

Nvidia shares slid another 5 percent and Jensen Huang saw his net worth drop $4.6 billion in a day as an investigation opened into chip shipments to China. Nvidia's board hired outside counsel to investigate whether Jensen Huang's ties to Alice Huang and Megaspeed helped steer AI chips to China.

Huang's fortune fell to $148 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index, leaving him as the world's 12th-richest man. The trouble deepened as $8 billion in chips surfaced in China. The Trump administration also looked into Alice Huang's relationship to Megaspeed, a company which may or may not have facilitated the movement of chips.

Nvidia's stock fell 4.3 percent one day and another 5 percent as news about $7.5 billion of chips made the situation more complex. Huang faces deeper risks if the board discovers he was involved in Megaspeed or if he loses his role as the face of the global AI industry.

Another sign of weakness would be if Nvidia appoints a chairman to a role that is currently vacant, which would undercut his control. For now, the market is mostly giving Huang the benefit of the doubt while the board untangles the investigation.