Chey Tae-won
Chey Tae-won

SEOUL, South Korea — Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang's admission of an extramarital affair has drawn comparisons in South Korea with the long-running divorce of SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, whose conglomerate controls memory chipmaker SK Hynix, one of Nvidia's most important suppliers.

Both cases involve powerful founders or chairmen at the center of the global AI chip boom, admitted infidelity and questions about what personal turmoil means for investors. But the two situations differ sharply in their legal status, scale and potential business consequences.

Huang's admission

Huang disclosed the affair this week. "I was unfaithful to my wife," he wrote in a memo the company posted publicly.

His case is bound up with national security questions. Nvidia's board has opened an independent investigation into whether Huang was targeted by a foreign intelligence operation, following reports that a Chinese intelligence agency recruited a businesswoman who had a personal relationship with him. Huang insisted the relationship did not involve the sharing of sensitive company information.

No divorce has been filed. Lori Huang has not publicly responded to the allegations, and no verified public announcement establishes that the couple has separated or filed for divorce.

Chey's decade-long legal battle

Chey's case began with a similar admission but has already moved through years of litigation. Chey disclosed a child born out of wedlock in 2015 and filed for divorce mediation in 2017, leading to a battle with his wife, Roh Soh-yeong, director of Art Center Nabi and daughter of former President Roh Tae-woo.

The awards have swung dramatically. A July 24 retrial ruling by the Seoul High Court ordered Chey to pay Roh 944 billion won in cash, replacing a 1.38 trillion won property award that the Supreme Court threw out in October 2025.

The fight is not fully over. Chey has appealed again to the Supreme Court, accepting 700 billion won of the award and contesting the remaining 244 billion won, while Roh did not file a counter-appeal.

Selling shares to pay

Chey has already raised the money. He sold about 1.65 million SK Inc. shares worth 944 billion won ($703 million), an apparent move to fund the settlement. Although the sale reduced his stake in the holding company, Chey remains its largest shareholder.

Key differences

The biggest difference is scale. Huang owned 870 million Nvidia shares, or 3.58% of the company, as of March 23, 2026. One widely circulated analysis estimated a hypothetical split could reach tens of billions of dollars under California's community property rules, but that figure depends on assumptions that are not public.

Corporate control also differs. Chey's settlement threatened his grip on a family-controlled conglomerate, which is why he structured the payment to remain SK Inc.'s largest shareholder. Nvidia, by contrast, uses a single-class share structure, and Huang's roughly 3.5% stake gives him significant influence but not voting control.

The nature of the risk is different too. Chey's case was largely a family and property matter. Huang's involves allegations of foreign intelligence targeting, a board investigation and congressional scrutiny.

What both cases show

Despite the differences, both cases show how personal matters can become corporate concerns when a company's identity is closely tied to one leader. In Korea, the term "owner risk" is widely used to describe that kind of exposure.

For Chey, the immediate financial impact has been absorbed through a share sale while he keeps control. For Huang, no divorce or settlement has been announced, and the main near-term questions center on Nvidia's board investigation and the company's Nov. 17 earnings report.