Jensen Huang was a busted flush at Nvidia – he had to go | Nils Pratley

Résumé détaillé

CEO was viewed as ‘irreplaceable’, but recklessness of affair with a woman regarded by US officials as a Chinese spy made him a political liabilityHalf the tech world made up its…

CEO was viewed as ‘irreplaceable’, but recklessness of affair with a woman regarded by US officials as a Chinese spy made him a political liability

Half the tech world made up its mind before the facts could be assessed properly. Jensen Huang was “irreplaceable”, said the chorus at the start of this week. Nvidia would melt without the co-founder’s brilliance, apparently. The chipmaker’s board had to find a way to save its genius for the sake of corporate America and the entire AI universe.

It was always nonsense because, after the passage of only a few days since his confession of infidelity, Huang looked less like a towering corporate titan and more like a political liability.

An extramarital affair is not usually a resigning matter in itself – saintliness is not an absolute requirement of the job. But the circumstances here were different. A relationship with the Chinese boss of a Singapore-based firm suspected of smuggling Nvidia chips into China? That displayed recklessness on top of mere unfaithfulness.

Did he know the Megaspeed executive, Alice Huang (no relation), was regarded as a Chinese spy by US officials? It hardly matters. In the ultra-political world of in-demand AI computer chips, there were enough reasons for him to be careful in the extreme. The conflict of interest, and the risk of landing Nvidia in a quagmire of national security inquiries in Washington, would have been obvious.

Reports of a second affair with a senior Nvidia employee compounded matters – US companies tend to be sensitive about such relationships. But the company’s directors might also have wondered what else could be revealed in coming weeks. Rule number one in these situations is to get all the bad news out on day one.

The kneejerk reaction to Jensen Huang’s resignation was 13% off the share price. That was understandable – some investors truly believed the “irreplaceable” thesis.

First, the congressional investigations will happen anyway.

Début de l'article, extrait de The Guardian Business. Pour lire la suite, ouvrez l'article chez le média.