Wall Street Sees the Writing on the Wall for Jensen Huang

Detailed summary

The company’s board is weighing the fate of its chief executive. Silicon Valley and Washington are steeling themselves for life without him.

Andrew here. Put yourself in the shoes of Nvidia’s board: Would you fire Jensen Huang?

An affair with a customer who U.S. intelligence officials determined was a spy for China, as well as what The Times reported was a relationship with an employee, would typically be grounds for removal. At best, these scandals are a distraction. At worst, they make managing the nearly $4 trillion chipmaker virtually impossible, especially if credible evidence emerges that Huang knew about Nvidia chips improperly going to China.

Yet does his centrality to the company and the A.I. industry mean overlooking those issues? Elon Musk wrote that he would be honored to hire Huang. Palmer Luckey of Anduril declared, “China wants Jensen out, so I want him in.” The venture capitalist Sarah Guo wrote, “We should demand loyalty and accountability, but sainthood cannot be the price of admission to leadership.”

Does the Nvidia board have any middle ground? Could Huang step down to become chief technology officer — or is that just window dressing? We should know the answer soon. More below.

A month ago, Jensen Huang was firmly ensconced atop Nvidia. Now Silicon Valley — and Wall Street and Washington — are starting to imagine life without him running the giant chipmaker.

If Nvidia’s board removes Huang as C.E.O., it would be a sea change at the central cog of the artificial intelligence boom, with wide-ranging consequences, Sri Muppidi and Michael de la Merced report.

What Nvidia without Huang as C.E.O. might look like: Remember that the company has no clear succession plan. Analysts have speculated that Colette Kress, its C.F.O. and perhaps its next most prominent executive, could become interim C.E.O. (Nvidia has hired an outside firm to consider possible replacements for Huang, according to Bloomberg, which cited unnamed sources.)

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