Asia's semiconductor-heavy markets fell as much as 2.4 percent on Thursday, dragged down by fresh uncertainty over whether Jensen Huang can survive as Nvidia's chief executive.

The trigger was a wave of reporting on the board's investigation into Huang's personal conduct. According to Wall Street Journal sources, the board is actively considering removing Huang from the top job. Bloomberg reports a separate development: the board has hired an outside firm to compile a list of possible successors.

Neither Nvidia nor Huang has confirmed any of these claims. The reports rest on unnamed sources, and no board decision has been announced.

What are the allegations?

The New York Times reports that Huang had an affair with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia's healthcare director — a relationship that, if confirmed, would raise governance questions about a CEO's entanglement with a direct subordinate.

Huang is also said to have had at least one extramarital affair previously, beyond the relationship now under scrutiny. The board is currently investigating his actions. Nvidia has not detailed the scope of that investigation, its timeline, or who is leading it.

What does this change for shareholders? Formally, nothing yet. Huang remains chief executive, and no vote on his position has been disclosed. But succession planning at a company worth more than most national stock markets is no longer a theoretical exercise — it is, according to two major news organizations, already underway.

How did the stock react?

Nvidia's shares recovered 2.9 percent on Wednesday, a partial rebound after several days of turmoil. The relief did not last: the stock fell 8.6 percent in aftermarket trading.

That whipsaw is the real signal. A 2.9 percent gain followed by an 8.6 percent after-hours drop suggests investors have no stable view of Huang's position — and are pricing headlines rather than fundamentals.

How hard did Asia's markets fall?

The damage concentrated where Nvidia matters most:

• Taiwan's semiconductor-focused exchange fell 2.4 percent
• South Korea's market, similarly chip-heavy, lost 1.2 percent
• Japan's Nikkei index of large exporters declined 0.6 percent, though the broader TOPIX index edged up 0.04 percent
• Mainland Chinese markets dropped roughly half a percent
• Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 0.9 percent

The pattern is unambiguous: the closer an economy sits to Nvidia's supply chain, the harder it was hit. Taiwan's 2.4 percent slide is not a general risk-off move; it is a specific verdict on Nvidia's leadership turmoil.

Why are investors so jumpy?

Nvidia's crisis lands on ground that was already unstable. Investors were already worried about high valuation levels at artificial intelligence companies and what many describe as hugely inflated investment in the sector.

The leadership question compounds that anxiety. Nvidia is not merely a beneficiary of the AI boom — it is the reference point by which the whole sector is valued. If the market cannot trust the stability of Nvidia's leadership, it has no anchor for pricing anything downstream of it.

The skeptical read: nothing has actually been decided. The board may clear Huang, and Bloomberg's outside search may be standard contingency planning that boards conduct quietly all the time. Thursday's selloff prices in an ouster that has not happened, based on sourcing no one has verified.

What about currencies and Europe?

The dollar strengthened 0.1 percent against both the euro and the pound, and weakened 0.1 percent against the yen. One euro bought 1.11 dollars; one dollar bought 159.73 yen.

European markets pointed higher, with the Euro Stoxx 50 futures index up 0.2 percent in anticipation of a positive opening. That divergence — Asia down, Europe up — reinforces the point that Thursday's Asian weakness was chip-sector-specific rather than a global rout.

What happens next?

Three unanswered questions will determine whether this is a squall or a storm:

• Does the board's investigation end with a public conclusion, or fade without comment?
• Is the successor search reported by Bloomberg a live process or an exercise in preparedness?
• Do the affair allegations, if confirmed, meet the bar for removal under Nvidia's conduct policies?

Until one of those questions is answered on the record, investors are trading rumors. Asia's markets on Thursday showed exactly what that costs.