What now for Nvidia? This was the question on everyone’s lips at the illustrious Web Summit technology conference in Lisbon on Thursday in the hours after CEO Jensen Huang announced his resignation.
Huang’s departure followed a series of allegations that he had multiple extramarital affairs, including one with an Nvidia employee and one with a woman who has been identified as a possible Chinese spy. The company, whose computer chips are at the core of generative AI’s disruptive powers, is valued at around $4 trillion, making it one of the most valuable in the world. A co-founder, Huang has been with Nvidia since its earliest days three decades ago, making it hard to imagine the company without him at the helm.
There’s nothing quite like a salacious, market-moving scandal to create a buzz at a tech event. The Web Summit organizers leaned into the news, quickly assembling a panel of tech experts to discuss whether Nvidia was bigger than its CEO.
Nothing in the allegations changes the fact that Huang is probably the godfather of the AI revolution, said investor and financial writer Adam Kobeissi. “He was the central figure,” Kobeissi said, even if he wasn’t the only person responsible for Nvidia’s success.
“This company is going to survive and thrive with or without him,” he added.
