Nvidia stock at its lowest since March: what is confirmed in the Huang probe

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On Tuesday, 10 November 2026, Nvidia shares closed at $168.89, their lowest close since 30 March. From the record close of 6 October the stock is down about 29%, and by 24/7 Wall St.’s count roughly $1.7 trillion of market value is gone. Before Wednesday’s open the shares were bouncing back by a few percent. Below I separate what Nvidia itself has confirmed from what the media are reporting.

Confirmed, reported, unknown

• Confirmed by Nvidia: the board has opened an independent investigation into reports that CEO Jensen Huang was the target of a foreign intelligence effort. The board says it has “no reason to believe that either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised.”
• Confirmed by Huang: in a memo to employees he admitted he had been unfaithful to his wife. He did not name the woman.
• Reported by the media: according to The New York Times, US intelligence believes that Alice Huang, a former executive at the Singapore company Megaspeed and no relation to Jensen Huang, passed information to Beijing. China denies it. Nobody has been charged.
• Stock: down 4.27% on 9 November and 5.47% on 10 November (more than 6% intraday). Up 4.5-5.3% in pre-market trading on 11 November, according to CNBC.

Three sessions, one number

I checked the closing prices on Yahoo Finance. On Friday, 6 November, the last session before Huang’s memo, Nvidia closed at $186.64. On Monday it closed at $178.67 and on Tuesday at $168.89: minus 9.5% in two sessions, or about $430 billion of market value according to 24/7 Wall St. Heise and CNBC say the company’s valuation came close to the $4 trillion mark.

The widely quoted 31% figure is correct, but it needs context. It is the drop from the intraday high of $243.37 on 6 October to Tuesday afternoon. Measured from the record close of $239.24, the drop is 29.4%.

The most important caveat: most of that decline happened before Huang wrote to his staff. By Friday, 6 November, Nvidia was already 22% below its record, while the PHLX Semiconductor Index (SOX) had lost 29% over the same period. Only on Monday and Tuesday did Nvidia start falling against the market: the SOX rose 6.5% in those two sessions while Nvidia fell 9.5%. I break this down in detail in a separate analysis: Nvidia down 31%: how much is the Huang affair and how much is the market?. On Tuesday the market also got a hotter-than-expected US inflation reading, which according to Yahoo Finance added to the pressure on tech stocks.

What Nvidia confirmed and what the papers say

Officially there are two documents from Sunday, 8 November. The board statement says a committee of independent directors, assisted by outside independent counsel, is running the inquiry; the board expresses confidence in Huang, and Huang says he will cooperate fully. In his memo to employees, Huang wrote that he had been unfaithful to his wife and that there was no excuse for it. That is the only sentence about his private life I quote here, because it is the only one that comes from him.

According to CNBC and the Financial Times, the independent directors hired the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, and the inquiry is led by Joon H. Kim, a former acting US Attorney. Nvidia has not said when it will end.

Everything else is reporting. On 29 October The New York Times wrote, citing officials and people familiar with the intelligence, that Alice Huang passed information to Beijing and had a close relationship with Nvidia’s CEO. The same paper reported that Jensen Huang had not received a defensive briefing. In later stories the Times reported that a Commerce Department inquiry into Megaspeed was halted after Nvidia intervened and that President Trump was told about the matter in May. On 29 October, Nvidia spokesperson John Rizzo told the Times that Huang’s interactions with her were “not unusual or unexpected,” because Megaspeed is a customer and meeting customers is part of a CEO’s job.

Megaspeed says inspections by the US Bureau of Industry and Security, Malaysia’s trade ministry and Nvidia found no evidence of illicit chip transfers. Singapore’s government, according to CNBC, said it had not investigated Alice Huang’s alleged intelligence ties. China’s foreign ministry called the story a smear. Alice Huang did not respond to requests for comment. According to CBS News, citing two law enforcement sources, the Justice Department’s National Security Division is investigating Megaspeed over export controls.

Washington, a lawsuit and the analysts

House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Brian Mast told ABC News he was prepared to subpoena Huang if he did not respond by Wednesday, 11 November, to a request for a closed-door briefing; three committee chairs want to hear from him on 18 November. President Trump defended Huang and said the FBI was looking into it “in terms of something else.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio called it an internal corporate matter.

A proposed class action on behalf of shareholders was filed on Monday, according to Decrypt. On Wednesday Morgan Stanley removed Nvidia from its top-pick list, while calling Huang’s leadership “crucial.” Dan Ives of Yorkville Ives puts the chance of Huang leaving at about 15% and says the company would be worth 25-30% less without him. These are analysts’ opinions, not recommendations, and this article is not investment advice.

Two dates matter next. On 17 November Nvidia reports third-quarter results; in August it guided to $108 billion in revenue, assuming no data center compute sales to China. On 18 November the closed-door congressional briefing may take place.

FAQ

How much has Nvidia stock fallen?

From the record close on 6 October ($239.24) to the close on 10 November ($168.89), 29.4%. From the intraday high ($243.37), about 31%. On 10 November the stock closed at its lowest level since 30 March 2026.

Has Jensen Huang been charged with espionage?

No. Neither he nor Alice Huang has been charged. The claim that she worked with Chinese intelligence is a US intelligence assessment reported by The New York Times from anonymous sources. China denies it, and Nvidia’s board says it has no reason to believe company secrets were compromised.

Will Huang step down?

There is no sign of it so far. An Nvidia spokesperson said Huang intends to keep leading the company without interruption, and the board has expressed confidence in him. The investigation’s outcome is unknown.

This is not investment advice. I report data and sources; decisions about shares are the reader’s own.

Kinetyra