Who could run Nvidia if Jensen Huang is ousted?

Résumé détaillé

Jensen Huang is such a towering figure at Nvidia that his extramarital affairs – with a suspected Chinese spy and reportedly with a colleague – have left the world’s most valuable…

Jensen Huang is such a towering figure at Nvidia that his extramarital affairs – with a suspected Chinese spy and reportedly with a colleague – have left the world’s most valuable chipmaker with what could be the world’s biggest corporate succession problem.

Trading on a rags-to-riches life story that saw him make huge, risky long-term bets on the future of the technology market, Huang developed a reputation as a tech visionary whose name was synonymous with – and even eclipsed – that of his company.

Now, in effect for the first time since he cofounded the business in 1993, a true discussion has begun on who might replace him.

“We always knew key man risk was an issue for Nvidia,” said Stacy Rasgon at Bernstein. “It’s not intuitively obvious who the successor would be ... there’s blood in the water now.”

Nvidia employees, known for their fierce loyalty to the chief executive and comparatively low attrition rates, have been left stunned. Some are angry, unsure whether Huang can stay on.

“It’s the biggest fall from grace,” said one long-time Nvidia colleague, adding that a “globally respected and admired” tech group had been brought low “by his own ego and weakness”.

Huang uses an unusual horizontal management structure with about 60 executives reporting directly to him. This gives him enormous reach and influence over every decision made within the company.

The arrangement means that in Huang’s absence, no single executive is positioned to assume his role of chief diplomat, strategist, lobbyist, investor and salesperson. Nor does Nvidia have a formal public succession plan – an idea Huang has said he does not believe in.

Colleagues say Huang is known for dropping into an email thread with relatively junior staff to ask about the minutiae of products. His influence is reflected even in the physical layout of its headquarters.

Début de l'article, extrait de The Irish Times. Pour lire la suite, ouvrez l'article chez le média.