Jensen Huang espionage controversy will cast a long shadow over Nvidia, veteran tech strategist warns Brian Sozzi · Executive Editor Wed, November 11, 2026 at 12:38 PM EST 2 min read NVDA +4.64% Trade NVIDIA on Coinbase Trading disclosure Trading disclosure The above button links to Coinbase. Yahoo Finance is not a broker-dealer or investment adviser and does not offer securities or cryptocurrencies for sale or facilitate trading. Coinbase pays us for certain activity generated through this link. Prices displayed are informational.
The rough road for Nvidia (NVDA) and CEO Jensen Huang is only just beginning, even if we are only a few days into intense news coverage of the debacle, veteran tech strategist Ted Mortonson warned.
"Talking to institutional clients, Jensen is the face of the company, and whenever you mention espionage as an ex-military person, that's a whole other dynamic," Baird strategist Ted Mortonson said on Sozzi Unleashed. "So that opens up massive investigation opportunities, not only for the Republicans and Democrats, but also the FBI. And it's going to go on for a long time. So there's going to be this cloud over the company, even though they are two to three years ahead of their competition both on software and silicon."
Mortonson's colleagues downgraded their rating on Nvidia to Neutral today. Analyst Tristan Gerra's note was titled, "Icarus' Rise and Fall; Company Will be Fine."
Huang admitted to the affair on Sunday in an email to employees. Nvidia shares are down about 9.6% since the situation became public.
Nvidia's board of directors launched an independent investigation into reports that the woman Huang had an affair with was allegedly a spy for the Chinese government. The board said it hired powerful law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to conduct the investigation. Former acting US Attorney of the Southern District of New York Joon Kim will run point on the investigation.
Mortonson said clients are rotating into Nvidia rival AMD (AMD), whose stock is up 13% over the past five days.
The endgame for Nvidia could involve more than just Huang leaving as CEO, Mortonson said.
"It could be restrictions of some markets even, you know, tighter controls from the Department of Commerce," he said. "Singapore has always been this country of entry into China underneath the table, so to speak. … I think the export controls get cleaned up. And historically Nvidia had about 20% of their revenue coming from China. I think that's shut off, definitely in the near term and maybe the long term."
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