Nvidia Falls About 3% in Overnight Trading as Board Investigates Huang Spy Claims

After-hours shares on the Blue Ocean trading system and perpetual futures on the Hyperliquid exchange were both changing hands at around $180.30, according to Reuters. That is about 3.4% below Friday's Nasdaq close of $186.64. The Standard in Hong Kong put the after-hours decline at 3.7%.

The move matters because Nvidia is the most important stock in the AI trade, and the inquiry centres on the man most closely identified with the company. Investors now have to weigh a governance problem at the top of the business on top of a broader sell-off in AI-linked shares that followed last week's US midterm elections.

On Sunday the board said a committee of independent directors, working with outside counsel, would lead the investigation. It said it had "no reason to believe that either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised" and that it had confidence in Huang and his leadership team. In a message to staff, Huang admitted he had been unfaithful to his wife and said he took full responsibility. He said he was committed to Nvidia and would cooperate with the review.

The inquiry follows a New York Times report that a memo circulated among Trump administration policymakers this spring said US intelligence believed Alice Huang, an executive at Singapore-based Nvidia customer Megaspeed, had been recruited by China's Ministry of State Security. Nvidia has called the allegations baseless. A company spokesman said on Sunday that the news "will not slow NVIDIA" and that Huang would continue as chief executive without interruption.

On Hyperliquid, Nvidia's perpetual contract started falling at about 4pm US Eastern time on Sunday. The Block reported that it touched a low near $178.10 before recovering slightly. By 10:10pm Eastern it was down 3.8% over 24 hours at $180.50, on about $170 million of volume. Rick Maeda, head of markets at Laevitas, told The Block that Hyperliquid had taken "the first reaction on thinner liquidity" because it was the only venue for price discovery while US cash markets were shut.

The Block also reported that prediction markets put the odds of Huang leaving at under one in five. Polymarket gave a 16% chance that he resigns or is removed by December 31, 2026, and Kalshi gave 18% for his departure by January 1, 2028.

The drop in Nvidia did not spread to the rest of Asia's tech sector. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Tech Index opened 1.02% higher on Monday, and Chinese chipmakers SMIC and Hua Hong rose 2.2% and 2.6% respectively. Taiwan's market rebounded strongly after regulators restricted short selling and authorised state buying. South Korea's science ministry said on Monday that the turmoil at Nvidia would not disrupt the country's contracted deliveries of GPUs.

The overnight moves are only a first read. Regular Nasdaq trading on Monday will give a fuller picture. Nvidia also faces a request from three House Republican committee chairs to brief them behind closed doors on the reported ties, and it is due to report quarterly results later this month.