Jensen Huang resigns.
The future of Nvidia and the AI industry is uncertain
TL;DR
- Jensen Huang has resigned as CEO of Nvidia.
- Colette Kress, the CFO, is the interim CEO.
- Nvidia's stock is crashing following the announcement.
- Huang's past actions, including enabling Chinese AI and potential conflicts of interest, are cited as reasons for his departure.
- Concerns exist about the stability of Nvidia's AI initiatives and its circular financing.
- The resignation could impact Nvidia's investment in Anthropic.
- The event is expected to lead to significant changes for Nvidia and the AI industry, with potential for ongoing congressional investigations and market volatility.
Jensen has resigned.
The board met, and presumably told him he had to go. For the moment, he has been replaced by the CFO, Colette Kress. The stock is crashing.
There can be no doubt that Jensen was one of the greatest CEOs in history. I have a met him a few times, and was always impressed. The first was around 2014; he had already seen that the future of Nvidia was in AI, and was full throttle in getting Nvidia as deeply embedded in AI as possible. In recent years I grew frustrated with his increasing tendency to hype things, and a lot of the circular financing worried me, but I never ceased to marvel at the tremendous pivot he had made from powering video games to powering the AI revolution.
But nonetheless, he had to go. He enabled and even lobbied for Chinese AI, subverted US policy, and carelessly left himself vulnerable to both blackmail and espionage. His blindness to conflict of interest (or the appearance thereof) cost many people dearly. He acted to the peril of his company, his industry, and his country.
He also left Nvidia open to endless litigation and investigation, which is perhaps part of why they encouraged him to go, despite his enormous talents.
Replacing him will be a huge blow, but keeping him on was no longer tenable, either.
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Yesterday, anticipating today’s outcome I wrote, “If Jensen is indeed on his way out—and Nvidia may really not have much choice to let him go given the potential liability and reputational damage, to say nothing of the scrutiny from investigations if they don’t act—all hell may break loose.”
The stock was down 8% in premarket then, now it is down 13, as I write this at the opening bell.
I added that “The bigger issue for the AI world at large is that Jensen is the ringmaster of all the insane circular financing. And all that might collapse.”
That’s a very real possibility now. I also added “One immediate big question, if he does in fact go, would be whether an Nvidia with an acting CEO (perhaps the CFO?) still goes through with the billions they promised Anthropic in the IPO.”
That is now front and center.
Things will clearly never be the same, neither for Nvidia, nor the AI industry as a whole. Congressional investigations will continue. The market may crash.
China is perhaps the biggest immediate winner here. China hawks will come out force. The politics will be intense. Lutnick and Trump may be caught in the crossfire.
The main thing to expect is chaos.