'No ordinary CEO': Why the AI race cannot do without Nvidia's Jensen Huang

By Aditya Soni

Nov 9 (Reuters) - On the streets of Taipei and Seoul, fans of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang mob him for autographs on books, posters and sometimes even on their bodies. In private, even billionaires Larry Ellison and Elon Musk were once reduced to "begging" for his coveted AI chips.

The star power that 63-year-old Huang draws as the gatekeeper to Nvidia's chips shows how badly the AI industry is leaning on him for the graphics processing units that train models and run services such as ChatGPT.

But he is not just a chip supplier; instead Nvidia has in recent years turned its swelling cash pile into a war chest to fund companies ranging from AI cloud-computing providers and suppliers to the biggest labs.

Analysts say that makes Huang a potential risk to the AI industry as Nvidia investigates whether he was targeted by foreign intelligence after Huang confirmed his affair with a Chinese businesswoman accused of passing information to Beijing.

"It is hard not to read the news over the weekend as negative given it brings the stewardship of one of America's most important companies and the architect of the US AI trajectory under debate," Stacy Rasgon, analyst at Bernstein, said.

"Nvidia is not an ordinary company and Jensen is not an ordinary CEO; he is Nvidia, clearly sets the long-term strategy and direction, and pulls most of the company's strings himself."

VOCAL AI CHAMPION

Such is Huang's spell that a casual night of fried chicken and beer in Seoul with the CEOs of Samsung and Hyundai last year sent the shares of two South Korean food companies soaring, while his endorsement of Marvell Technology as the next "trillion-dollar company" propelled the shares of the custom chipmaker to record highs.

As a leading counterweight to AI skeptics, Huang has often dismissed fears of a bubble and challenged Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's apocalyptic warning that the technology could pose an existential threat to humanity.

Any setback for Huang could deprive the AI industry of one of its most vocal champions who has often argued that the technology would transform everything from computing and manufacturing to healthcare and robotics.

AI'S CHIP ALLOCATOR-IN-CHIEF AND A POWERFUL BOSS

Huang's influence goes beyond talking up AI. He holds sway over the supply of the chips that can determine how fast AI companies spending tens of billions of dollars can grow.

That status was validated by Oracle co-founder Ellison in September 2024 when he recounted a dinner at Nobu in Palo Alto.

"I would describe the dinner as me and Elon begging Jensen for GPUs," Ellison told analysts. "Please take our money ... We need you to take more of our money."

Huang has a firm grip on Nvidia, which he runs through an unusually flat structure, with dozens of executives reporting directly to him.

However, as its fifth-largest shareholder with a roughly 3.6% stake, he does not have special voting shares that give founders such as Meta Platforms' Mark Zuckerberg and SpaceX's Elon Musk majority control of their companies.

"A lot of companies' organization charts, they all look the same. And it doesn't make any sense to me. The architecture of the company should reflect the environment in which it exists," Huang said on the Lex Fridman Podcast in March.

He said more than 60 executives report to him, nearly all in engineering roles, including experts in memory chips, networking and graphics and central processors.

Huang's family is also woven into Nvidia, with son-in-law Nico Caprez overseeing ties with neoclouds and data-center operators as vice president of global AI infrastructure growth.

Huang's daughter Madison is a senior director overseeing marketing for Nvidia's physical AI products and often accompanies him on business trips, while his son Spencer works in the robotics division.

NO IMMEDIATE SUCCESSOR

Analysts have said Huang, who has run Nvidia since co-founding the chip designer in 1993, has no clear successor. The company, which said over the weekend Huang has the board's backing, has not disclosed a succession plan.

"Jensen is not replaceable... there is no other person on the management team bench that can step in seamlessly as CEO," said long-time technology bull Dan Ives, partner and senior managing director at Yorkville Ives & Co.

Besides Huang, Nvidia lists four executives on its leadership page. The best known is finance chief Colette Kress, who often represents the company at investor conferences.

The others are executive vice president of worldwide field operations Nick Parker, executive vice president of operations Debora Shoquist and Tim Teter, executive vice president, general counsel and secretary.

(Reporting by Aditya Soni in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)