Дженсен Хуан создал компанию, которая поддерживает искусственный интеллект. Теперь Nvidia должна найти путь вперед без него

Генеральный директор Nvidia Дженсен Хуанг подал в отставку в четверг, что стало кульминацией впечатляющего краха для лидера бума искусственного интеллекта, чей уход после сообщений о внебрачных связях теперь ставит производителя чипов в неопределенное будущее.

После череды головокружительных заголовков о неверности Хуана и его связях с предполагаемым китайским шпионом, его уход положил начало поиску постоянной замены, которая возглавила бы многомиллиардную компанию, которая из безвестности выросла до места между Apple и Microsoft на вершине индекса S&P.

Из-за отставки акции Nvidia упали на 14% при открытии торгов, прежде чем стабилизироваться. В четверг акции упали примерно на 4%, поскольку инвесторы размышляли о судебных исках, расследованиях, вероятных корпоративных махинациях и устойчивости рынка, движимого прибылью нескольких технологических гигантов.

"Уход Хуана создает неопределенность далеко за пределами самой компании", - сказал Аса Хикен, старший аналитик исследовательской компании eMarketer, что отражает опасения по поводу более широких последствий и возможности возникновения пузыря искусственного интеллекта.

Компания назначила Колетт Кресс, исполнительного вице-президента и финансового директора, временным исполнительным директором. Она стала финансовым директором в 2013 году, курируя глобальные финансовые операции компании. До этого она три года проработала в Cisco и 13 лет - в Microsoft.

У Nvidia не было плана преемственности, чтобы подготовиться к возможному уходу Хуанга, который более 30 лет был синонимом Nvidia, во многом так же, как Стив Джобс олицетворял Apple. В Nvidia заявили, что совет директоров рассмотрит внутренних и внешних кандидатов на его замену.

В своем заявлении в четверг Кресс заявила, что "сила Nvidia всегда исходила от ее сотрудников" и что она "стремится развивать тот выдающийся фундамент, который Дженсен создавал на протяжении последних 33 лет".

Совет директоров объявил в четверг, что он также назначил своего первого в истории председателя, Харви К. Джонса, предпринимателя и венчурного инвестора.

Huang, 63, is one of the world's wealthiest people, with a personal fortune that Forbes estimates at more than $150 billion. He is the single largest individual shareholder of Nvidia stock.

A drumbeat of scandals around him had grown louder in recent weeks after The New York Times reported Huang's relationship with a woman the paper said U.S. officials had concluded was a Chinese spy who was recruited to influence California-based Nvidia to make its most advanced chips more available in China.

The discovery set off alarms as high as the White House.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that the FBI was investigating but remained complimentary of Huang on Thursday, saying he "has done a fantastic job." Like many top tech CEOs, Huang is close to Trump, who has hosted him at the White House and on Air Force One, and awarded him a National Medal of Science.

Nvidia's board announced an investigation into the allegations on Sunday but said it remained confident in Huang's leadership. Then pressure compounded late Wednesday after reports surfaced of another alleged affair by Huang, this time with an Nvidia employee who reported to him. Reuters reported Thursday that Huang had an intimate relationship with a second employee, citing unidentified sources.

The company has said it had "no reason to believe" that either national security or its secrets were compromised, but that its inquiry would examine all available information.

Nvidia is due to report earnings Tuesday.

After Huang's exit, U.S. lawmakers were still insisting on questioning him about his interactions with a Chinese businesswoman named Alice Huang and the company's security protocols against espionage.

"Congress must demand answers from Huang and others at Nvidia about how they may have put U.S. national security at risk," Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer of New York posted online.

Rep. Brian Mast, chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, said the committee was in contact with Huang's team as recently as Wednesday night after putting in an initial request for an interview on Nov. 5. Mast said Huang would receive a subpoena to compel his appearance, if necessary.

Alice Huang, the suspected spy at the center of the scandal, is a former executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed International. Jensen Huang acknowledged an affair but did not identify her.

The two are not related.

Megaspeed faced allegations last year that it was illicitly shipping advanced Nvidia computer chips into China, but in December said there was "no evidence" of such exports.

Singaporean authorities said Thursday that they questioned Alice Huang and confiscated her passport last year as part of an investigation into Megaspeed. They concluded that there wasn't enough evidence that she had committed a crime but suspected she provided "inaccurate information" to downplay her role at Megaspeed and barred her from returning to the country.

In their statement, Singaporean authorities also complained that since September 2025, they had sought help from the U.S. Justice Department and the FBI as part of their investigation but had received limited assistance.

China has denied that it attempted to ensnare Jensen Huang. Nvidia has become a leader in making chips that power AI, and Huang has lobbied Washington to loosen limits on sales of Nvidia chips to China. In January, he won Trump's approval to sell Nvidia's H200 chips to China.

Megaspeed said Thursday that it has cooperated with the U.S. Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security, which handles enforcement of national security restrictions on technology exports, and was ready to "cooperate fully with any other relevant U.S. government authority."

The company said it has hired a U.S. law firm to conduct a "comprehensive census" of its computer chips and to verify its export controls.

"Megaspeed welcomes appropriate government scrutiny and is committed to demonstrating through concrete actions that it operates responsibly, transparently, and in accordance with applicable U.S. laws," it said.

Apart from questions over national security, Megaspeed's finances also have drawn attention. Its total assets soared roughly 90-fold from late 2023 to 2024, to almost $3 billion, according to Singapore corporate records.

Revenue surged to over $294 million in 2024 from none in 2023.

What comes next for Jensen Huang is unclear, though another tech mogul, Elon Musk, said on X that it "would be an honor" to hire him.

At a time of growing alarm about AI's potential risks, Huang has been a voice of optimism on the technology's potential. His climb to the top of the corporate world started with an idea born in an unglamorous setting.

Huang and two other engineers gathered in 1993 at a Denny's in San Jose, California, where they discussed building a computer chip that would make graphics for video games faster and more realistic.

That conversation led to the founding of Nvidia.

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