Nov 12 (Reuters) – Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is stepping down, leaving the AI industry without its biggest champion and clouding the future of the chipmaker he built into an AI powerhouse.
Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress will take over as interim CEO as Nvidia looks for a permanent successor, the company said on Thursday. Huang, who co-founded Nvidia and is its fourth-largest investor with a stake of about 3.61%, will not remain on the board.
Here are some reactions to the news:
JOE SALUZZI, PARTNER, CO-HEAD OF EQUITY TRADING AT THEMIS TRADING IN CHATHAM, NEW JERSEY
“Nvidia has been called the ‘Bank of AI.’ They’ll sell you the chips and loan you the money. If they have to take a step back because of what’s going on, will that cut off funding to smaller companies that need it? That’s an open question.”
“I have heard from some data-center folks that they can buy chips from other companies as long as those companies can supply them. If that’s the case, the AI trade continues, companies keep building data centers, and life goes on. But if there’s a supply shortage, then you have a problem.”
“It could also simply slow down the AI machine. Congress and others have raised concerns about the speed of AI development and whether there are proper controls and regulations. Maybe something like this slows it down, lets everyone take a breath, and acts as a kind of regulation without a regulation.”
STEVE SOSNICK, CHIEF MARKET ANALYST, INTERACTIVE BROKERS, CONNECTICUT
“It’s very difficult to spin this as good news for NVIDIA. It’s difficult for the tech trade right now because not only is NVIDIA’s technology so central to the AI build out, but if this puts a damper on their ability to generate cash flow at the same rate they always have, that becomes tricky.”
The interlocking deals that Nvidia has with so much of the industry raises the question into whether that created more stability or more fragility … There’ll be investigations. The Republicans may not investigate so much, but when you have a new Democratic Congress, I’m sure there will be all sorts of investigations as to whether export controls were violated, whether this was done with the knowledge of the, Department of Commerce and what the State Department knew about this.”
DANIELA HATHORN, SENIOR MARKET ANALYST AT CAPITAL.COM, UK
“Investors are trying to figure out what it means exactly for the future of the company. They’re putting someone as an interim just to step in. It’s just a concern about what the leadership transition means for the company, whether it changes much.
“There’s a key risk here because Jensen was seen as the kind of the front man of AI, not just at Nvidia, but in general. And him stepping down kind of adds a little bit of jitters to the market ahead of the earnings next week and obviously in the middle of this AI rout that we’re going through. So it’s just adds another layer of that kind of uncertainty and concern being piled onto the market.”
GIL LURIA, MANAGING DIRECTOR, DA DAVIDSON, PORTLAND
“Colette Kress is well respected by investors and should be able to guide NVIDIA through this challenging period. The task is daunting, as NVIDIA has been founder-led since inception and Mr. Huang concentrated much of the decision making.”
(Reporting by Utkarsh Tushar Hathi, Akash Sriram, Johann M Cherian Arpan Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)
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