The question that hung over Nvidia all week has sharpened into something more urgent. Nvidia’s board is preparing to weigh removing Jensen Huang, with directors scheduled to meet late Wednesday to determine the executive’s future. Nvidia shares plunged 8.62% in after-hours trading following reports that the board was considering a potential ouster amid scrutiny over his alleged extramarital affair with a woman described in news reports as tied to Chinese intelligence, raising U.S. national security concerns. This is no longer a reputational story. It is a leadership-continuity event arriving six days before a roughly $109 billion earnings report.

• NVDA fell 8.62% after hours, closing the regular session at $173.73 before sliding to about $158.76 post-market.
• Since the first revelation, widely reported estimates put Nvidia’s lost market value at more than $1 trillion.
• Analysts project approximately $109.0 billion in revenue and EPS of about $2.47 for the November 17 report.
• Asian stocks mostly closed lower on Thursday after Nvidia fell about 8.6% in after-hours trading, with Taiwan’s Taiex dropping 2.63%.
• The daily RSI stood at 23.95 before Wednesday’s after-hours drop, deeply oversold, with ADX at 34.7 and -DI at 47 versus +DI at 7.6, confirming a one-sided downtrend.
• Some board members favor appointing CFO Colette Kress as interim CEO if Huang is removed, according to published reporting.
• Nvidia has no chief operating officer, and it has not publicly laid out a formal succession plan.

Market Context

Nvidia’s market capitalization peaked around $5.78 trillion in early October; by November 10 it had fallen to about $4.08 trillion, a decline of roughly 29% and approximately $1.7 trillion in lost value. The governance shock then accelerated that slide. The drop in Nvidia shares weighed on the broader market, with Nasdaq 100 futures falling 1.1% and S&P 500 futures falling 0.5% as of 6:30 p.m. ET Wednesday. NVDA’s weight in major indexes means this is not a single-name trade. Every passive fund holding the S&P 500 or Nasdaq 100 is exposed to whatever happens between now and the November 17 close.

Sector Breakdown

The sector’s reaction has been split, and that split matters for positioning. While Nvidia shares tumbled, AMD rose 4.5% and Broadcom gained 2.9% after hours. That divergence reflects capital rotating toward companies that could absorb Nvidia customers or supply chain share if leadership instability persists. TSMC, the largest stock in the Taiex and Nvidia’s primary chipmaker, fell 2.3% to NT$2,340. Reports that Nvidia is considering slowing chip orders would affect upstream supply chain players like TSMC. TSM’s exposure is structural, not speculative: its fabrication revenue is directly tied to Nvidia’s production cadence. TSM stock is already down 20% from its October peak.

Stock-Specific Financial Breakdown

In Nvidia’s fiscal second quarter, the company generated $96.2 billion in revenue, a 106% increase year over year, with data center revenue reaching $89.0 billion and gross margin at 75.0%. For the fiscal third quarter, Nvidia has guided to revenue of approximately $108 billion. Those numbers have not changed. What has changed is who will present them. CFO Colette Kress is the most visible member of Huang’s team, with executives including Ian Buck named in reporting as possible internal candidates. An interim CEO reading a script on a November 17 earnings call, six days into a governance crisis, is a materially different event than Jensen Huang delivering product roadmap commentary to hyperscaler clients.

Technical Framework

Nvidia shares plunged in overnight trading toward $160.74, with technical indicators showing the stock in oversold territory and a critical support level at $163.89. The 14-day RSI has reached 21.67, with NVDA’s %B at 0.0208, essentially hugging the lower Bollinger Band at $160.27. Key levels: last regular-session close $173.73; support at $163.89, $152.39, and $141.38; resistance at $178.85 and $191.17. Oversold readings can produce sharp bounces, but they do not confirm a bottom on their own. Volume patterns matter: heavy sell-side flow on down days with thin participation on bounces confirms no institutional accumulation has begun.

Scenario Modeling

Bull Case: The board retains Huang in a modified role or announces a credible permanent CEO candidate before November 17. NVDA reclaims $178.85 on relief buying ahead of earnings. A revenue beat above $109 billion with strong forward guidance on Blackwell demand pushes the stock back toward the $190 resistance zone.

Base Case: Huang is formally removed this week, with Kress named interim CEO. NVDA opens Thursday between $158 and $163, holds the $152 support zone, and volatility remains elevated into November 17. The earnings call becomes a governance hearing as much as a financial event. The stock trades in a wide range without directional resolution until Q4 guidance is issued.

Bear Case: No CEO decision before earnings, national security concerns expand, and analysts begin revising hyperscaler spending assumptions. The first line of support is at $150.79; below it, strong support is marked at $139.80. A miss on guidance would likely collapse that lower support.

Active Trader Strategy Framework

The asymmetry here cuts both directions with unusual severity. Defined-risk structures, such as options spreads, allow traders to position around the November 17 event without unlimited downside from a gap open. Nvidia’s turmoil has revived demand for near-term protection overnight, reflected in elevated short-dated volatility. Key levels to monitor: a daily close below $163.89 opens the $152 zone; a close above $178.85 would begin structural repair. The AMD and AVGO relative-strength moves are worth tracking as a real-time sentiment gauge for AI spending conviction, independent of NVDA’s leadership risk. Any position sized without accounting for November 17 binary risk is under-hedged.

Conclusion

Nvidia’s earnings on November 17 were already among the most watched in the market. Now they arrive inside a governance vacuum with no announced CEO, a board in emergency session, and roughly a 29% drawdown from the early-October peak. The fundamentals, about $109 billion in projected quarterly revenue and 75% gross margins, have not broken. The confidence premium that made Huang’s Nvidia worth roughly $5.8 trillion has. Disciplined traders prepare for both the resolution and the absence of one.