# Nvidia's $450bn crash puts millions of 401(k)s at risk

> The chipmaker's stock plunged after the CEO's affair surfaced. But experts say retirement savers should stay calm.
- Title: Nvidia's $450bn crash puts millions of 401(k)s at risk
- Summary: The chipmaker's stock plunged after the CEO's affair surfaced. But experts say retirement savers should stay calm.
- Keywords: nvidia, jensen huang, stock market, 401k retirement accounts, market volatility, ai stocks, s&p 500, nasdaq100, Fortune
- Source: Fortune — https://fortune.com/2026/11/11/nvidia-jensen-huang-board-401k-retirement-exposure
- Author: Steven John
- Read time: 2 min
- Topics: nvidia, jensen huang, stock market, 401k retirement accounts, market volatility, ai stocks, s&p 500, nasdaq100
## Board prepares to oust Huang
Nvidia's board is preparing to oust CEO Jensen Huang, the Wall Street Journal reported. The board could meet imminently to decide his future.
## Stock crashes in after-hours trading
Nvidia shares fell nearly eight percent in after-hours trading Wednesday, sliding from one hundred seventy three dollars seventy three cents to roughly one hundred sixty dollars.
## Huang admits to second affair
The New York Times reported that Huang had a second extramarital relationship with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia's vice president of health care.
## First affair involved alleged Chinese agent
On November eighth, Huang admitted to an affair with Alice Huang, an executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed International whom U.S. officials believe is an agent of China's Ministry of State Security.
## Nvidia loses $450 billion in value
Nvidia has lost more than four hundred fifty billion dollars in market value since the affairs became public. The company was worth about four point one trillion dollars at Wednesday's close.
## Millions of 401(k)s hold Nvidia stock
Nvidia, number sixteen on the two thousand twenty six Fortune five hundred, sits inside index funds and target-date funds that anchor millions of Americans' four oh one k's, whether those savers chose it or not.
## Average retirement exposure is three to five percent
Leonard Gilroy, senior managing director of the Reason Foundation's Pension Integrity Project, told Fortune the average American's exposure to Nvidia stock volatility is a reasonable estimate of three percent to five percent.

> The average American's exposure to NVIDIA stock volatility depends on how they invest, but a reasonable estimate is 3% to 5%.
## Spillover risk to other AI companies
The larger danger may be a domino effect, with a hit to Nvidia dragging down companies that depend on its chips, such as other AI companies and large consumers of Nvidia chips.
## Experts advise retirement savers to stay calm
Jill Fisch, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, advises people not to fret.

> Ordinary retirement accounts are invested for 20, 30, or 40 years or more. So I would say over the long term, this is going to be a tiny blip.
## Long-term value depends on business, not scandal
Fisch said the long-term value of Nvidia's stock is tied to the value of the company.She does not expect the affair itself to materially affect the company's value, though leadership questions could be more problematic.

> the long-term value of Nvidia's stock is going to be tied to the value of the company and I don't think that the affair is something that I would expect to materially affect the value of the company.
## Key takeaway

Nvidia shares fell nearly eight percent after reports of CEO Jensen Huang's affairs emerged, erasing four hundred fifty billion dollars in market value and exposing millions of retirement accounts to volatility.