Nvidia's board of directors is preparing to remove Chief Executive Jensen Huang, according to a Wall Street Journal report — an ouster that would deal a swift end to his 33-year reign as CEO and follow his admission of an extramarital affair with a woman whom U.S. intelligence officials deemed to be a Chinese spy.

The chipmaking giant's decision promises to send shockwaves throughout the technology industry and upend America's race in artificial intelligence. The Journal reported that Nvidia's board could meet as soon as Wednesday to determine Huang's fate.

On Wednesday, the New York Times reported that Huang, 63 years old, had also had an extramarital relationship with Kimberly Powell, the company's vice president of health care. Powell could not immediately be reached for comment. According to LinkedIn, Powell has been with Nvidia for nearly two decades and previously spent 10 years in AI business development. Nvidia describes her as formerly leading the company's higher education and research business, alongside Nvidia AI labs.

In after-hours trading — the session that follows the regular market close — Nvidia's shares were down more than 7%.

Huang's long-term future with the company is not immediately clear. On Sunday, Huang acknowledged being unfaithful to his wife, and Nvidia announced an investigation into reports that he had been targeted by a foreign intelligence effort. At the time, the board said it had "no reason to believe that either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised," but that its inquiry would examine "all available information."

A centralized power structure

Huang co-founded Nvidia in 1993 and has been integral to the company's success, particularly its magnificent run in recent years. For fiscal 2026, which ended in January, the company reported revenue of $215.9 billion, up 65% over the prior year. Growth accelerated in the first half of fiscal 2027, the current fiscal year, with revenue of $96 billion, up 85% year over year. Nvidia previously guided third-quarter fiscal 2027 revenue to $108 billion, plus or minus 2%, and chief financial officer Colette Kress said the company expects 70% revenue growth in fiscal 2028.

Within Nvidia, Huang's authority is unmatched. Since its founding, he has created a unique, flat structure that places him at the center of most decisions, with about 60 direct reports. Nvidia's board operates without a chair, the company has not set out a clear succession plan, and it does not have a chief operating officer. Huang is known to text and call small clients himself.

Analysts say Nvidia's succession challenge would not be whether its engineers can keep building chips without Huang. It is whether anyone, or any leadership team, can inherit his authority to decide what gets built, secure the industry's commitment to it, and keep customers confident in the next bet.

The circumstances behind Huang's potential removal "hasten a transition the company is not prepared for," Gil Luria, an analyst with D.A. Davidson & Co., told Fortune.

Nvidia's board decision would be a forced hand. "There are rules about that; there are laws about that," Jay Goldberg of Seaport Research Partners told Fortune, speaking about the untenability of Huang remaining CEO if there were internal policy violations. Nvidia's business won't "go away. They're sold out. It's all contracted into next year, but it loses a lot of its luster. The chances of making a misstep are higher."

Succession questions

If Huang is ousted, the most immediate question is who will succeed him, and what sort of new plan the company will put in place to fill the vacuum of power. The near-term markers to watch are concrete: whether the board convenes on the timeline the Journal described, what the investigation opened Sunday concludes, and whether any removal is accompanied by a named successor — a plan the company has so far lacked.

"Rarely has a board faced this much pressure. This is the board's moment to shine or fade," Michael Useem, a professor of management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, told Fortune. "If the board had been doing its job, it would already have a slate of possible successors: people identified as likely successors."

Business and law experts have said Nvidia's chief financial officer, Colette Kress, could be an option for interim CEO. Kress has fronted the company's financial guidance, including the revenue forecasts cited above. Another option would be to have one of the company's directors take over as interim CEO if Huang is removed — most notably lead independent director Stephen Neal, the board's most senior member outside company management, who is chairman emeritus and senior counsel at law firm Cooley LLP. Huang's children and son-in-law also work at the company.

Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, senior associate dean for leadership studies and Lester Crown Professor in Management Practice at Yale University's School of Management, compared the Huang saga to what happened at McDonald's with former CEO Steve Easterbrook, who was ousted in November 2019. The McDonald's board investigated Easterbrook for a consensual relationship with an employee that involved the exchange of videos and romantic text messages, and then found that other undisclosed, improper relationships had occurred.

Easterbrook was later charged by the SEC with making false and misleading statements to investors about the circumstances that led to his termination. Easterbrook did not admit or deny the findings, but agreed to a five-year officer and director bar and paid a $400,000 civil penalty.

The stakes for the AI industry

Huang's ouster would create a massive hole for the AI industry. He has been central to the sector's rapid growth: his success in creating world-leading graphics processing units — the chips that power AI by handling model training and regular user queries — has been instrumental in ushering in the AI boom and in the U.S.'s leading position.

Few executives in Silicon Valley and beyond exert the level of power and influence Huang holds over one company and one industry. His institutional knowledge and deep industry connections have been among the reasons tech analysts and other experts have said it would be impossible to replace him. Another reason has been President Trump, who has become a close friend of Huang and has stood by the executive since Sunday's revelations, saying Huang is an "amazing guy" and an "honorable man."

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com.