Asian stocks fall as Nvidia board weighs Huang’s future

Asian stocks mostly ended lower on Thursday, Nov. 12, led by Taiwan. Nvidia ↗ 2.87% shares fell sharply in after-hours U.S. trading on reports that its board was meeting to decide whether to remove CEO Jensen Huang. Taiwan's Taiex lost 1,165.28 points, or 2.63%, to close at 43,091.87. The index had traded above the previous close for most of the morning before turning lower around noon, Focus Taiwan reported. The New York Times reported that the board met Wednesday but had not announced any decision.nytimes.com+1

Suppliers take the hit

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. ↗ 4.25%, which makes up more than 40% of Taiwan's market value, reversed earlier gains and closed down 2.30%. That alone accounted for about 440 points of the Taiex's decline, according to Focus Taiwan. MediaTek fell 3.51% and ASE Technology ↗ 6.60% lost 5.02%. "Many investors feared the weakness of the IC designer will spread to other AI-related stocks when the U.S. markets open today," analyst Tsai Ming-han told the agency.focustaiwan.tw

Elsewhere in the region, South Korea's Kospi fell 0.6% and Japan's Nikkei 225 lost 0.7%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Tech Index dropped 2.1% and China's Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.6%, Dow Jones reported. Memory maker SK Hynix ↗ 9.71% declined, while Samsung Electronics gained.morningstar.com

Chinese chipmakers moved the other way. MetaX and Cambricon Technologies each rose more than 8% in Shanghai on bets that local suppliers could win market share from Nvidia, per Dow Jones. Moore Threads also rose, with all three gaining nearly 10% at points, Reuters reported.news.tuoitre.vn+1

A board in crisis

The Wall Street Journal News Corp ↗ 0.40% first reported that Nvidia's board was preparing to oust Huang. Its report followed revelations of two extramarital affairs, one with a woman U.S. officials suspect is a Chinese spy and one with a company executive, according to Reuters. Under Nvidia's bylaws, a majority of its 11 directors can remove Huang "with or without cause." Bloomberg reported that the board had been working with an outside firm to find possible replacements, Reuters said. The shift came quickly: on Sunday, the board had opened an investigation while still expressing confidence in Huang, CNN reported.wsvn.com+1

Rivals Advanced Micro Devices ↗ 7.32% and Broadcom ↗ 3.99% rose in after-hours trading, Dow Jones reported. Pepperstone's Chris Weston said investors appeared to be treating the crisis "primarily as an idiosyncratic risk to Nvidia." Saxo's Charu Chanana gave a different view, warning that "an abrupt exit without a credible succession plan could create uncertainty around its partnerships, China strategy and broader AI vision."morningstar.com

Nvidia is set to report quarterly results on Nov. 17. Investors there will focus on leadership and on whether a sales outlook built under Huang still holds, Reuters noted.news.tuoitre.vn