Jensen Huang’s downfall would deal a heavy blow to the AI boom

(New York/Bengaluru, agencies) Jensen Huang is not just Nvidia’s chief executive, but an indispensable driving force behind the global artificial intelligence (AI) boom. The suspected Chinese espionage scandal that erupted last weekend will hurt more than Nvidia; it could also disrupt development across the AI sector.

With graphics processing units (GPUs) in short supply globally, even the most powerful technology leaders, such as Elon Musk and Larry Ellison, depend on Huang’s Nvidia to maintain chip supplies to data centres, providing the vast computing power needed to run AI models from companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic.

But Huang is more than a chip supplier. In recent years, Nvidia has turned its swelling cash reserves into investment firepower, funding businesses ranging from AI cloud service providers and suppliers to leading AI laboratories. These organisations then use the money to buy its chips. This circular model means that trouble at Nvidia could ripple through the entire industry.

A leading counterweight to AI sceptics, Huang frequently rebuts concerns about an AI bubble and has questioned Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei’s apocalyptic warnings that AI could pose an existential threat to humanity. If Huang is forced out, the AI industry could lose its most vocal champion.

Sequoia Capital partner Shaun Maguire wrote on social media platform X that Huang “did something incredibly dumb” and that it “was bad for America”, but said he had no malicious intent and was “irreplaceable for America's AI leadership”.

Investors are not so sure Huang will emerge unscathed from the investigation launched by Nvidia’s board.

Dan Ives, a partner at AI-focused investment firm Yorkville Ives & Co, described Huang as “the core DNA of Nvidia.” While he expects Huang to remain chief executive in the short term, he believes the board’s findings could still lead to his removal.

Ives said the scandal was bound to trigger multiple US congressional investigations and greater scrutiny of chip sales to China.

Gary Black, managing partner of the Future Fund, which has a substantial investment in Nvidia, also wrote on X: “I doubt Jensen Huang will be able to remain as Nvidia CEO.”

He also noted that Huang has “no natural successor within the company.”

Huang has led the chip designer since co-founding it in 1993. Although he owns only about 3.6% of Nvidia, he retains a firm grip on its management through an unusually flat organisational structure, with dozens of executives reporting directly to him. His daughter Madison Huang, son Spencer Huang and son-in-law Nico Caprez, all currently work at the company.

Ives wrote bluntly on X: “Jensen is not replaceable... there is no other person on the management team bench that can step in seamlessly as CEO.”