Forbes: If Jensen Huang steps down, Nvidia's stock price and the artificial intelligence industry could suffer a severe blow.

According to Forbes, NVIDIA’s board of directors is preparing to oust CEO Jensen Huang, who has held the role for 33 years, and may hold a meeting on November 11. Forbes noted that NVIDIA’s market capitalization has shed roughly $1 trillion since The New York Times first reported on October 29 about Huang’s relationship with Huang Le, an executive at Singaporean data center operator Megaspeed. The stock fell an additional 8% in after-hours trading on November 11. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives warned that if Jensen Huang is ousted, the company’s market cap could lose another $1 trillion to $1.2 trillion. On November 8, Jensen Huang admitted to infidelity in an internal letter to employees. An NVIDIA spokesperson stated that Huang is “committed to leading NVIDIA without interruption.” On November 11, The New York Times further reported that Huang had an extramarital relationship with Kimberly Powell, the company’s vice president of healthcare business who reports directly to him. Forbes cited pre-report estimates from Doug Clinton of Intelligent Alpha, who put the likelihood of Huang stepping down as CEO at 10% to 20%, while Yale University professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld said the odds were evenly split. Forbes pointed out that NVIDIA has no public succession plan, and Huang has 60 direct reports. Newsweek reported that if Huang leaves, CFO Colette Kress is a potential candidate to serve as interim CEO. NVIDIA has set its third-quarter revenue guidance at $108 billion, with analysts expecting year-over-year growth of around 91%. The company is scheduled to release its earnings report on November 17. Forbes also cited SFist, noting that if Huang’s wife files for divorce, the settlement amount could range from roughly $62.6 billion to $81.1 billion under California’s community property laws.