European shares fall as Nvidia CEO’s exit raises doubts over AI boom

European and Asian shares mostly fell on Friday as investors weighed what Jensen Huang’s resignation as Nvidia CEO could mean for the global artificial intelligence industry.European stock indices opened lower, with the FTSE 100 in London down 0.2% at the open, and the benchmark indices down 0.3% in Paris and Frankfurt. US stock futures also edged lower, including the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100.In the US, Nvidia shares had closed down 4.3% on Thursday. The S&P 500, the Nasdaq Composite and the Dow Jones Industrial Average each fell about 0.4%, with the Dow closing at 52,297.09. Some Nvidia rivals gained, including Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), which rose 5.9%.Nvidia said on Thursday that Huang had stepped down as president, chief executive and board member with immediate effect. The announcement followed reports of two affairs, including one with a woman suspected of spying for China, which raised US national security concerns. Nvidia’s long-serving chief financial officer, Colette Kress, stepped in as interim CEO.The departure of Huang, who co-founded Nvidia and was a key architect of its AI strategy and the broader global AI boom, has raised questions about how it could affect the development of the technology. Huang had been the face of Nvidia and was seen by some in the industry as bigger than the company itself.Ben Barringer, head of technology research at…