"It Trended Upward Before, Right? A Huge Sale - Time to Buy!"... Korean Retail Investors Launch KRW 400 Billion Buying Spree in NVIDIA

After Jensen Huang Admits to Having an Affair
'Nvidia' Tops U.S. Stocks in Net Purchases by South Korean Retail Investors

Domestic investors made the largest net purchases of NVIDIA shares among U.S.-listed stocks after former NVIDIA Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jensen Huang admitted to having an affair.

Jensen Huang, former Nvidia CEO (Reuters-Yonhap News)

According to Seibro, the Korea Securities Depository’s securities information portal, domestic investors made net purchases of approximately $319.74 million (KRW 428.1 billion) worth of NVIDIA shares from November 8 to 13, based on the inquiry dates. This was the largest amount among overseas-listed stocks.

NVIDIA purchases totaled $478.4 million, about three times the $158.65 million in sales.

The PROSHARES ULTRAPRO QQQ ETF, which aims to deliver three times the return of the Nasdaq 100 Index, ranked second, with net purchases totaling about $319.74 million. It was followed by the PROSHARES ULTRA QQQ ETF ($239.15 million) and SpaceX (SPACE EXPLORATION TECHN-CL A, $161.28 million).

On November 8 local time, former CEO Huang admitted to having an affair with a Chinese businesswoman. In the wake of the admission, NVIDIA shares fell more than 12% from November 6, before Huang acknowledged the affair, through November 13.

It appears that Korean retail investors trading overseas took advantage of the sharp drop in NVIDIA shares, a leading artificial intelligence (AI) stock, to buy at lower prices. U.S. tech companies have seen their share prices trend upward after CEOs were embroiled in sexual scandals, including the workplace affair scandal involving Microsoft (MS) founder Bill Gates, and investors appear to be viewing the latest development as a long-term positive.

However, in NVIDIA’s case, further allegations have emerged that Huang’s alleged affair partner is a businesswoman suspected of being a Chinese spy, making it difficult to predict the company’s future value.

On November 14, Taiwan’s Liberty Times reported that Alice Huang (Chinese name Huang Le), who has been identified as Huang’s alleged affair partner, was suspected of having served as a member of a Chinese intelligence agency’s semiconductor unit.

Citing information from U.S. sources, the report said that the General Office of the Chinese Communist Party had established a dedicated unit to gain an edge in the AI rivalry with the United States. The report said the General Office of the Chinese Communist Party had set up a dedicated “semiconductor team” to gain an advantage over the United States in the AI competition, and that Alice Huang was a member of the team.

According to the allegations, Alice Huang’s primary role was to establish shell companies in third countries to obtain advanced semiconductors and high-performance servers, then approach Jensen Huang and influence him to push for a relaxation of U.S. restrictions on semiconductor exports to China.

U.S. media previously alleged that Alice Huang had used her relationship with Jensen Huang to help divert at least $7.5 billion (about KRW 10 trillion) worth of NVIDIA AI chips to Chinese companies. However, the U.S. Department of Justice has yet to reach a conclusion on whether Alice Huang was a spy.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.