'A Massive Mistake': Tech, AI and Crypto Founders React to Jensen Huang’s Nvidia Exit

Résumé détaillé

Nvidia’s founder is out, and tech and crypto leaders are fuming. Some fear for open-source AI, others question the board, while Elon Musk says he’d be honored to hire Huang.

Nvidia co-founder Jensen Huang is out as CEO after 33 years, and some of the loudest names in crypto and artificial intelligence think the company just made a spectacular mistake.

On Thursday, Nvidia confirmed Huang’s resignation as president, CEO, and board member, and named longtime finance chief Colette Kress interim CEO. The move followed reports of two extramarital affairs, including one involving a businesswoman U.S. intelligence reportedly suspected of links to China, as well as concerns over a reported relationship with an Nvidia employee.

Huang acknowledged being unfaithful to his wife in a message to employees on Sunday. Nvidia said in a board statement that it had no reason to believe its secrets or national security were compromised, and its independent investigation remains underway. The allegations about foreign intelligence have not established that Huang knowingly provided information to a foreign government.

But even without any leaks, the scandal was enough for the board to decide to let him go.

The market did not welcome the transition. Nvidia shares fell 14% at Thursday’s opening bell; with more than $500 billion wiped from U.S. stocks in a single minute. The company that was once the most valuable in the world has now fallen to third on that list.

Nvidia was already under pressure before the scandal, and Huang’s departure raised a particular problem for a company built so closely around its founder: Who, exactly, can replace him?

Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, the Binance co-founder and one of crypto’s most influential executives, said “it's a mistake for Nvidia to let Jensen resign.” Bitcoin entrepreneur and former Kraken executive Dan Held agreed, writing, “He shouldn't have resigned,” and argued that Huang’s personal problems should be weighed against the company he built.

Erik Voorhees, who founded ShapeShift and privacy-focused AI platform Venice, was more confrontational.

U.S. intelligence officials reportedly assessed Alice Huang as a Chinese intelligence…

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