Nvidia Power Vacuum Follows Jensen Huang's Resignation
AI-generated image · US National Wire
The sudden exit of the chipmaker's founder and CEO creates a leadership crisis for the company central to the AI economy.
Jensen Huang has resigned as CEO, president, and board member of Nvidia, effective November 12, as The Register first reported. The departure follows Huang's admission of having an affair. The Register reports that one partner was Alice Huang (also known as Huang Le), head of Nvidia partner Megaspeed, a company accused of being a front for China's government to transfer chips to China. Additionally, The New York Times reported an alleged affair between Huang and Nvidia VP of health care Kimberly Powell.
Nvidia CFO Colette Kress has been appointed interim CEO. The Register notes that Nvidia lacks a COO, a role typically used for succession, and emphasizes that Huang's identity was inextricably linked to the company he co-founded on April 5, 1993. His leadership oversaw the 1999 release of the GeForce 256 and the 2006 launch of CUDA, the programming architecture that serves as the foundation for most AI computing.
While Nvidia stock dropped 14 percent in early trading on Thursday before recovering to a 5 percent decline, The Register reports that competitors Amazon and Google may view the instability as an opportunity to gain leverage in the AI hardware market. The outlet suggests that the broader AI market's current stability relies on "irrational exuberance," noting that Huang's absence leaves a void that the company may be unable to fill.