After thirty-three years of leading the company he helped found in a San Jose diner, Jensen Huang has stepped down as chief executive of Nvidia, a man whose restless bet on parallel computing made the chip maker the arms dealer of the artificial intelligence age. His departure followed a week in which he acknowledged infidelity and the board began examining whether he had been a target of foreign intelligence, a collision of private failing and public stakes that has left a company at the center of the world's machine-learning ambitions without the figure who gave it its shape. Colette Kress n
Huang's Fall Exposes Nvidia's Dependence on Its Founder as AI Empire Faces Mounting Threats
Nvidia now has to learn to exist without the man who built it
After thirty-three years of leading the company he helped found in a San Jose diner, Jensen Huang has stepped down as chief executive of Nvidia, a man whose restless bet on parallel computing made the chip maker the arms dealer of the artificial intelligence age. His departure followed a week in which he acknowledged infidelity and the board began examining whether he had been a target of foreign intelligence, a collision of private failing and public stakes that has left a company at the center of the world's machine-learning ambitions without the figure who gave it its shape. Colette Kress now leads as interim chief executive while a search proceeds. The larger question is whether an enterprise built so closely around one person's vision can carry its momentum forward into a rivalrous and uncertain decade.
On Thursday, Jensen Huang stepped down as chief executive of Nvidia, closing a thirty-three-year chapter in which he was the only leader the company ever had. Colette Kress, the chief financial officer, took over as interim CEO, and the new board chair, Harvey Jones, said a search for a permanent successor is underway, weighing both insiders and outsiders.
The resignation came at the end of a turbulent week. On Nov. 8, Huang admitted to being unfaithful to Lori, his wife of forty years. The same week, the board said it was investigating whether he had been targeted by a foreign-intelligence effort. Reports have named some of the people involved, including one relationship reportedly with a woman US officials suspected of spying for China, a detail that sharpened scrutiny of his years lobbying Washington on chip sales to China. Reuters has also reported, citing anonymous sources, another affair with an unnamed employee.
The fall is steep because Huang's life and the company's story are nearly the same. A Taiwanese immigrant who once cleaned toilets at a Kentucky reform school, he cofounded Nvidia in a San Jose Denny's where he had once waited tables. He bet that computing would move from processors that handle tasks one at a time to chips that handle thousands at once, and he insisted that every chip work with CUDA, software that kept customers tied to the platform when the hardware alone could be copied. When researchers discovered these chips could train large language models, Nvidia became the supplier the AI race could not do without. Market value climbed from $360 billion in late 2022 to $5 trillion last month.
Inside the company, Huang's presence reached into nearly every decision, and outside it he was its diplomat and showman. Analysts now wonder whether the company can function without a leader whose technical instincts, strategy and relationships were so hard to replicate. The pressures are real: major customers are building their own chips, and the data center buildout faces regulatory and financing strains. Nvidia's chips power much of the world's AI infrastructure, so its stumbles reach well beyond its own shareholders. Like Apple after Steve Jobs, it must go on, and the open question is how well, and under whom.
On Thursday, Jensen Huang resigned as chief executive of Nvidia, ending a 33-year run as the only person ever to lead the company. Colette Kress, the chief financial officer, stepped in as interim CEO. Harvey Jones, the newly installed board chair, said the search for a permanent successor was underway and would consider both internal and external candidates.
The resignation came at the end of a week of upheaval. On Nov. 8, Huang admitted to being unfaithful to his wife of 40 years, Lori. The same week, Nvidia's board said it was investigating whether he had been the target of a foreign-intelligence effort. The Huangs met as lab partners at Oregon State University and have two children, Madison and Spencer, both of whom work at Nvidia. Lori Huang is president of the Jen-Hsun and Lori Huang Foundation and was responsible for her husband's wardrobe of black leather jackets.
Reports have named some of the people involved. One relationship was reportedly with Alice Huang, whom US intelligence officials suspected of spying for China. That raised pointed questions, given the years Huang spent lobbying Washington to loosen restrictions on chip sales to China. Another reportedly involved Kimberly Powell, Nvidia's vice president of healthcare, who was one of his direct reports. Reuters has since reported, citing anonymous sources, a further affair with another employee who has not been named.
The fall was steep because the story of Huang's rise was so thoroughly the story of the company. A Taiwanese immigrant who once scrubbed toilets at a Kentucky reform school, he cofounded Nvidia at the same San Jose Denny's where he had waited tables as a teenager. He made a decades-long bet that computing would shift from CPUs, which handle tasks one at a time, to GPUs, which handle thousands at once. Gamers were the first big customers, but the chips proved suited to scientific simulation, image processing and eventually AI training. More than 20 years ago Nvidia began developing CUDA, software that lets the GPU's power be used for non-graphics work, and Huang insisted every chip be compatible with it. Chips can be copied; the integrated software kept customers tied in. When researchers found GPUs could train large language models like ChatGPT, Nvidia became the arms dealer of the AI race.
Huang was also its showman, headlining company conferences held in arenas in his black leather jacket. The fervor was nicknamed "Jensanity," and Nvidia sold merchandise bearing a cartoon of his face. Market value rose from $360 billion in late 2022 to $5 trillion last month. Since the revelations, roughly $500 billion has been wiped away, and shares fell 4.3% on Thursday. Dan Ives of Yorkville Ives, a longtime Nvidia bull, wrote that the old Jensen, the rock star viewed as the face of the AI boom, "is over and in the past."
Inside the company, Huang's presence was total. He kept a flat management structure with dozens of direct reports and weighed in on decisions at nearly every level. At an all-hands meeting last year he said the "mission's the boss," and that he still woke each morning "scared to death," even as Nvidia became the world's most valuable company. He also served as its diplomat. Asked by an employee about his travel to Washington and meetings with world leaders, he said he would rather be working with staff, but that a company this central had to do it. Larry Ellison, Oracle's chairman, recalled a 2024 dinner at Nobu in Palo Alto as "me and Elon begging Jensen for GPUs."
Now the company must show it can function without him. Brad Gastwirth of Circular Technology said Huang's mix of technical expertise, strategy and industry relationships is nearly impossible to replicate. The pressures are real: Google, Amazon and Microsoft, among Nvidia's biggest customers, are building competing AI hardware, and labs like Anthropic are pursuing strategies built on multiple chip suppliers. The data center buildout is also strained by tougher regulations expected after the midterm elections and by neoclouds facing construction delays, power shortages and difficulty financing multibillion-dollar projects.
The stakes reach beyond Nvidia. Its chips power much of the world's AI infrastructure, and Huang argued for selling the technology abroad to preserve American leadership; if the company falters, China could gain ground. Like Apple after Steve Jobs, Nvidia has to go on. The question for investors, customers and policymakers is how well, and under whom.
Bemerkenswerte Zitate
Jensen's combination of technical expertise, strategic vision and industry relationships is nearly impossible to replicate.— Brad Gastwirth, analyst at Circular Technology
I was raised by the company.— Jensen Huang, January interview with Jodi Shelton
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