I'm going to guess the 2nd affair with a direct report who rose quickly through the ranks is from the board's perspective the more egregious of the two failings.

And: the public only knows what's made it out. Who knows what else has come out in private.

But the original news was not what sealed the deal, it was the follow up.

Nvidia will be just fine

I feel like "not having a succession plan" should be a fireable offence on its own.

Otherwise you end up thinking "should I start an affair with this Chinese spy I've been breaking US laws with? What are they going to do, fire me? They can't, I've got them trapped so I'm untouchable, I can do whatever I want. And if I'm in a helicopter crash then it sucks to be them, I'll not care when I'm dead".

Imagine having to explain that line of reasoning to Congress in four months. "Yes, Senator, we know our CEO was facilitating chip smuggling to China while in a relationship with a Chinese spy, but we figured that it would just be too risky to replace him at this time."

> Huang has his fingers in every pie; he's not the hands off type

well, yeah.

"an affair with a spy is not great" rather undersells the situation - there could be criminal liability.