Nvidia's $900 Million D&O Policy Leaves It Uninsured Against Huang Suits, FT Says

The chipmaker bought directors' and officers' insurance with so-called Side A cover of up to $900 million, placed through broker Aon with insurers including Beazley, AIG and Chubb, according to the report. Side A protects executives' personal assets when a company cannot or will not indemnify them. Nvidia did not buy Side B cover, which reimburses a company for indemnifying its executives, or Side C cover, which pays for securities claims brought against the company itself.

The gap matters because the main legal threat Nvidia now faces falls under Side C. A proposed securities class action filed on November 9 in federal court in San Jose accuses Nvidia and Huang of making false and misleading statements about his relationship with Alice Huang, a former executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed, a buyer of Nvidia chips whom US officials suspect of spying for China. Beijing denies the allegation. The suit covers investors who bought shares between October 9, 2025 and November 8, 2026; law firm Rosen later widened the class period to November 12, the day Huang resigned. None of the claims has been tested in court.

Lawyers and brokers quoted by the FT described a Side A-only arrangement as very rare for a company of Nvidia's size. A 2018 Willis Towers Watson survey found that 83 per cent of public-company respondents carried all three layers of cover, according to the report. Aon, Beazley and AIG declined to comment, and Nvidia has not commented publicly.

The Side A policy could still respond to some claims. In a shareholder derivative suit, brought on the company's behalf against its directors and officers, Nvidia cannot indemnify the individuals, which is the situation Side A is designed for. Sarah Abrams of RT ProExec's OakBridge team told The Insurer that Nvidia is very likely to retain some exposure through self-insurance, possibly via a captive insurer, and that she expects Huang to hold separate Side A cover of his own.

Shares fell 4.3 per cent on the day the class action was filed, erasing about $190 billion in market value by Reuters' estimate. The stock has since fallen further as the board named chief financial officer Colette Kress interim chief executive and began searching for a permanent successor.

For shareholders, the effect of the coverage gap is that they would bear the cost of any company payout directly, rather than through an insurer. The FT report did not put a figure on likely defence costs or any settlement.

Nvidia reports third-quarter results on Tuesday, November 17, the first since Huang's exit. The company's quarterly filings will be the first place it could disclose how it intends to account for the litigation.