In January, I sat in a room at CES in Las Vegas while Jensen Huang held court for nearly two hours.
asserted
Huang → sit → hours
He wore a crocodile-pattern Tom Ford leather jacket, spoke without notes and moved easily between China export controls and the future of gaming.
asserted
He → wear → gaming
He had the energy of a man half his age, and he was deeply impressive.
asserted
he → have → man
I had one question, and chose to ask him how much longer he planned to run Nvidia.
asserted
he → have → Nvidia
The secret to lasting 33 years was simple, he told me: “Don’t get fired, and don’t get bored.”
asserted
he → last → me
He would stay “for as long as I deserve this”, he said.
asserted
he → stay → this
He has never been in danger of getting bored.
asserted
He → get → danger
But getting fired is another matter.
asserted
fired → fire → ?
Nvidia’s board is preparing to push him out, The Wall Street Journal reported.
asserted
Journal → prepare → him
What tipped it over was an alleged second relationship.
asserted
tipped → tip → it
The New York Times, citing five people who have worked at Nvidia, reported that Huang had an affair with Kimberly Powell, a senior executive who reports to him.
asserted
who → cite → him
Two of those people said the pair were filmed being affectionate at a San Jose hotel in March.
asserted
pair → say → March
Three said Huang’s security team approached the person who filmed it and offered them a non-disclosure agreement.
asserted
who → say → agreement
When the Times called Huang to ask about Powell, he said, “I don’t think you should be talking to me directly,” and hung up.
asserted
you → call → me
Nvidia declined to comment and Powell did not respond.
asserted
Powell → decline → ?
It caps a disastrous week for Nvidia.
asserted
It → cap → Nvidia
On Monday, Huang told staff he’d had an affair with Alice Huang (no relation), an executive at one of Nvidia’s customers who US intelligence reportedly believes was working for China.
uncertain
intelligence → tell → China
China denies it.
asserted
China → deny → it
Nvidia’s board has hired a top law firm to investigate, and it says it has no reason to believe any secrets were compromised.
asserted
secrets → hire → reason
Nvidia’s shares fell about 8 per cent in trading after the US market closed, as news of the board’s plans broke.
asserted
news → fall → plans
It’s worth remembering how unlikely Huang’s story is.
asserted
story → ’ → ?
Born in Taiwan in 1963, he was sent to the US at nine and, through a mix-up, ended up at a reform school in rural Kentucky, where he cleaned toilets and taught his roommate to read.
asserted
he → bear → roommate
He later studied engineering in Oregon and worked night shifts at a Denny’s diner for $US2.65 an hour.
asserted
He → study → US2.65
In 1993, aged 30, he and two others started Nvidia in a Denny’s booth in San Jose.
asserted
he → age → Jose
Three decades on, the former dishwasher was running the world’s most valuable company, selling the chips that power almost every AI tool you’ve heard of.
asserted
you → run → tool
I’ll be honest, I left that room in Las Vegas thinking Huang was one of the most exceptional executives I’d met – few leaders can freely answer journalists’ questions for hours as ably as he did – and nothing reported this week changes what he built.
asserted
he → leave → what
But it does show what happens when a company this important depends on one person.
asserted
company → show → person
That’s why this is an important story for Australia even if you’ve never thought about a computer chip.
asserted
you → ’ → chip
When I wrote about Huang in January, Nvidia comprised about 8 per cent of the S&P 500, the main index of big US companies.
asserted
Nvidia → write → companies
If your super has money in overseas shares, you almost certainly own a small piece of it.
asserted
you → have → it
AustralianSuper, the country’s biggest fund, holds about $3 billion of Nvidia shares, according to its latest filings.
uncertain
AustralianSuper → hold → filings
“Nvidia without Huang was unthinkable a fortnight ago,” says Josh Gilbert, an analyst at trading platform eToro.
asserted
Gilbert → say → eToro
Now investors have to put a price on that risk.
asserted
investors → have → risk
Wall Street tech bull Dan Ives has had a crack.
asserted
Ives → have → crack
In a note to clients, his firm Yorkville Ives valued Nvidia at $US300 a share with Huang as chief executive, and $US225 a share without him.
asserted
firm → value → him
“In our view the writing is on the wall that Jensen’s days at Nvidia could be numbered,” Ives wrote.
uncertain
Ives → number → Nvidia
He still expects Nvidia’s chips to stay at the centre of the AI boom, but says Huang “is not replaceable by another CEO or group of interim executives”.
asserted
Huang → expect → executives
The deeper problem is that there’s no obvious plan B.
Nvidia’s 10 directors have served on its board for a combined 161 years, and several have known Huang since the 1990s.
asserted
several → ’ → 1990s
The board has no chair and the company has never named a successor.
asserted
company → have → successor
That’s what prompted me to ask Huang about his future in January: even then, the issue of ‘key man risk’ was on investors’ minds.
asserted
issue → ’ → minds
…and 10 more, not listed.
The Aporia
