NVIDIA Corporation has over 36,000 employees. As an employer, it is legally required to comply with many laws prohibiting discrimination against employees on a variety of factors, including race, sex, religion, and sometimes political affiliation. But the 2025 edition of the Viewpoint Diversity Score Business Index found that 90% of scored companies, as well as NVIDIA, promote divisive training and recruitment concepts like critical race theory (CRT) that replace genuine cultural and ideological diversity with a narrow focus on group identity. NVIDIA has stated that it has “increased [its] focus on diversity recruiting” and “when recruiting new talent. . . [it] strive[s] to build a robust talent pipeline that includes those underrepresented in the technology field, including women, black/African American, and Hispanic/Latino candidates.” Focusing on these metrics in recruiting is rooted in concepts that label employees as “oppressed” or “oppressors” based on belief or immutable traits, which can foster hostility and partiality instead of equal opportunity based on merit. A recent study found that DEI actually increases bias, hostility, and attribution of discriminatory intent instead of reducing them. DEI also silences dissenting views: the Freedom at Work survey found that 60% of employees feared reprisal for expressing their religious or political views at work, and over half feared the same for private social media posts. Companies are also facing increased legal and reputational risk for DEI programs that make distinctions based on race or other protected classes in light of recent Supreme Court decisions in Students for Fair Admission v. Harvard, Groff v DeJoy, City of St. Louis v. Muldrow, and Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services. State attorneys general and employees have initiated lawsuits and investigations. Recent scholarship has cast serious doubt on the common assertion that DEI is good for business. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that “Diversity Goals Are Disappearing from Companies’ Annual Reports.” And numerous companies are voluntarily removing DEI initiatives entirely in response to sustained customer dissatisfaction and public pressure. On top of this, President Trump issued an executive order seeking to root out illegal DEI practices, including in the private sector. The EEOC has initiated investigations and secured settlements from major law firms to stop their DEI practices. The EEOC and DOJ jointly issued guidance detailing DEI practices that may be illegal and encouraging whistleblowers to report these practices. In light of these risks, the Company must take immediate steps to assess potential shortcomings and allay these concerns. 1. https://storage.googleapis.com/vds_storage/document/2025 Business-Index.pdf 2. https://images.nvidia.com/aem-dam/Solutions/documents/NVIDIA-Sustainability-Report-Fiscal-Year 2025.pdf#:~:text=When%20recruiting%20new%20talent%20or,and%20partnering%20with%20our%20community 3. https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-bombshell-study-shows-dei-programs-increase-hostility 4. https://www.viewpointdiversityscore.org/polling 5. https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/diversity-equity-dei-companies-blum-2040b173 6. https://econjwatch.org/articles/mckinsey-s-diversity-matters-delivers-wins-results-revisited 7. https://www.wsj.com/business/diversity-goals-are-disappearing-from-companies-annual-reports-459d1ef3 8. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13812241/american-brand-dei-rules-backlash.html 9. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-illegal-discrimination-and-restoring-merit-based-opportunity/ 10. https://www.hrdive.com/news/four-big-law-firms-curb-dei-eeoc-settlements/745314/ 11. https://www.mayerbrown.com/en/insights/publications/2025/04/doj-and-eeoc-issue-guidance-regarding-unlawful-dei-related-discrimination