President Donald Trump presented the National Medal of Science to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang in October. Kent NISHIMURA / AFP via Getty Images

Jensen Huang helped make Nvidia indispensable to the AI boom. Now, amid an investigation into his personal conduct, the company must confront the question of whether he is indispensable to Nvidia, too.

The cofounder and CEO has long been credited with steering the chipmaker's extraordinary rise, helping to turn it into the world's most valuable company and himself into one of the most powerful figures in tech.

Yet on Sunday, Huang admitted to having an affair . The woman at the center of the controversy is Alice Huang , who has been an executive for Megaspeed, an Nvidia customer. The New York Times reported that US intelligence officials believe she was passing information to Beijing.…