Jensen Huang is hard to replace, but scandal leaves him vulnerable: analyst

As Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s extramarital affair escalated into a second scandal involving Nvidia executive Kimberly Powell, Taiwan-based analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, known for accurate early leaks on unreleased Apple products, assessed Huang’s strengths in his social media post on Thursday.

“Jensen Huang matters to Nvidia because he can take technologies his engineers believe are possible and turn them into products the whole company commits resources to, takes risks on, and has to deliver,” the prominent technology supply chain analyst said. 

But based on the public information so far, it will be hard for Huang to come out of this unscathed, he noted.

Huang’s Intuition Drives Industry Upgrades

He explained that Huang’s intuition is the reason why Nvidia’s supply chain gets stronger order visibility and is willing to keep up with aggressive spec upgrades. It also forces competitors to follow, which drives technology upgrades and supply chain investment across the entire artificial intelligence industry.

Kuo noted Huang’s uniqueness in having strategy, organization, technology, and supply chain all at once, then makes the call quickly and puts resources behind it.

“Huang doesn't need to be the person at Nvidia who knows the most about new technologies like HVDC, CPO/NPO, or CCL/PTFE,” he said.

Compared with improving visibility into supply chain orders, Kuo noted that deciding on aggressive spec upgrades and making them happen is the harder part.

Succession Planning May Become Necessary

“Based on what's public so far, it looks hard for Huang to come out of this unscathed,” Kuo said. 

If so, the practical move may be to gradually reduce Nvidia's reliance on Huang's personal decision-making while preparing a succession plan, he added. 

Meanwhile, Kuo noted two trends that can gauge where AI technology and investment are heading: whether Nvidia can keep developing new products and technologies as efficiently as before, and how competitors respond. 

Supply chain research will be an important basis for that judgment, he said.

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