As Jensen Huang leaves NVIDIA, the turmoil has not subsided. Internal employees have spoken out to urge him to stay, while competitors see new opportunities.
Some people placed flowers and candles outside the company headquarters, employees initiated votes hoping for his return, and lists of potential successors began to generate heated market discussion. Meanwhile, NVIDIA's stock price, regulatory risks, and the future direction of its GPU business have become focal points of external attention.
On November 12 local time, NVIDIA announced that Jensen Huang has resigned from his positions as President, CEO, and member of the Board of Directors, effective immediately. The engineer who co-founded the company in 1993 has officially stepped down from management after 33 years at the helm.
Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress has taken over as interim CEO while continuing to serve as CFO. Harvey Jones has assumed the role of Chairman of the Board. NVIDIA has simultaneously launched a formal CEO search process, considering both internal and external candidates.
According to US media reports, by the final moments of the entire controversy, Jensen Huang was completely physically and mentally exhausted, with his mental state having totally collapsed. His legendary energy, known for its incredible endurance, had been utterly drained.
For several weeks prior, he had publicly denied allegations of disloyalty circulating externally, exhausting every possible method to retain his position as NVIDIA's CEO, only to finally make the decision to surrender unconditionally late Wednesday night.
Insiders close to the core of the event revealed that Huang's previously dominant and commanding style has completely vanished. During this period, phrases like "whatever" and "I don't care," reflecting a sense of resignation, have frequently appeared on his lips.
Over the past few decades, from GeForce gaming graphics cards to the CUDA software ecosystem, and now as a key global supplier of AI infrastructure, Jensen Huang has almost always been the most prominent face of NVIDIA. Whether the company's strategy can maintain continuity after the founder's departure has become a question management must address.
Interim CEO Kress quickly issued an internal memo to employees. She acknowledged that the company is going through a difficult period, thanked employees for their professionalism and continued dedication, and emphasized her confidence in NVIDIA's future.
According to reports, leadership plans to hold an all-hands meeting at 9:00 AM (Pacific Time) on November 18 to further introduce future arrangements.
Employees' reactions were more direct. Some NVIDIA staff urged the board to listen to the team's opinions. An employee-organized poll showed that over 97% of participants wanted Jensen Huang to remain in his position.
Related discussion threads reportedly received over 1,600 comments. Some expressed reluctance to see him go, while others worried that the new management might change the original technical direction and corporate culture.
This figure is striking, but it must be clarified that it does not represent the official voting results of all NVIDIA employees. Information regarding the number of participants, coverage, and sample representativeness of the vote is currently lacking complete public disclosure.
Outside NVIDIA's headquarters in Santa Clara, California, flowers and candles also appeared. Some media described these scenes as a farewell from employees and supporters to the Jensen Huang era.
The succession issue has also drawn attention. Current interim CEO Kress joined NVIDIA in 2013 and has long been responsible for finance and capital strategy, possessing deep familiarity with the company's operations and investor communications.
In discussions about internal candidates, Ian Buck, known as the "Father of CUDA," has frequently emerged. He has long been involved in CUDA and high-performance computing businesses, possessing rich experience in technology and customer ecosystems.
External candidates include former NVIDIA executive and current Arm CEO Rene Haas, as well as AMD CEO Lisa Su, who has been mentioned by the media. Former US President Donald Trump also publicly recommended Tim Cook.
In a prediction market trade on Kalshi, Ian Buck once led with an implied probability of about 37%, followed by Kress and Haas. These figures reflect market betting prices at a specific point in time; they are not NVIDIA's official list of candidates, nor can they be directly interpreted as the final probability of appointment.
Wall Street's reaction to Jensen Huang's departure was also quite pronounced. On November 12, NVIDIA's stock closed down 4.34% at $166.19, wiping out approximately $182 billion in market capitalization in a single day. The drop also affected the paper value of the shares held by Huang.
Regarding personal equity awards, Jensen Huang may lose approximately $108 million in unvested restricted stock awards upon his departure, equivalent to about 720 million RMB.
Alongside the personnel changes, regulatory risks facing NVIDIA are also intensifying. Related news suggests that relevant authorities may continue to review NVIDIA's competitive practices and compliance issues involving some supply chain companies.
Beyond the capital markets, what truly affects NVIDIA's long-term competitiveness remains its GPU products, software ecosystem, and supply chain execution capabilities.
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes that NVIDIA's entry into a management transition period may create opportunities for competing solutions like Google's TPU. He also pointed out that Huang's past aggressive strategies for capacity booking and product specification upgrades were an important part of NVIDIA's supply chain competitiveness. Whether the new management will continue this approach deserves continuous attention.
For ordinary consumers, the more direct question is: Without Jensen Huang, will RTX gaming graphics cards still receive attention?
In a commentary article, PC Gamer expressed concern: AI data centers have become NVIDIA's most important revenue source, but Jensen Huang has consistently maintained long-term investment in the PC gaming business. Whether the new CEO will continue to support GeForce as he did remains unanswered.
Gaming graphics cards will not suddenly cease production due to a change in leadership. What players need to pay attention to are the actual changes in resource allocation for subsequent products, update cycles, and VRAM configurations.
However, AMD and other competitors will not automatically gain an advantage simply because NVIDIA has changed leadership. Competition in the AI chip market also involves software compatibility, development tools, delivery capabilities, costs, and long-term customer relationships. Short-term personnel changes are unlikely to immediately rewrite the existing landscape.
Over 33 years, Jensen Huang led NVIDIA from a graphics chip startup to an AI computing giant. Now, this era of founder-led stewardship has officially ended. NVIDIA needs to prove that what supports its development is not just one leader, but also a product system, technical team, and organizational capability capable of independent continuation.