Nvidia shares plunged on Thursday, sending tremors through global markets, when the company’s CEO, Jensen Huang, resigned from his position. Nvidia shares fell more than 4 percent when markets closed trading Thursday, wiping nearly $1 trillion off the company’s market value this month alone. Shares fell as much as 14 percent Thursday morning, but pared most of those losses as investor fears about the company’s future without Huang eased. Nvidia has become central to the AI economy because its chips (or graphics processing units) help train and power models across the industry. It has also become a kind of central bank for several AI companies, because its finances are deeply intertwined with those of everyone from cutting-edge AI labs to neoclouds, which rent computing power. “This is an Nvidia problem before it is an AI problem,” said Mark Malek, chief investment officer at Siebert Financial. But he added that Nvidia’s problems could affect other companies. “Where I would be careful is with the smaller cloud AI companies that leaned on Nvidia’s checkbook,” he said. “If the new regime becomes more conservative in terms of funding its own clients, that’s where it will show up first.” The company’s board of directors named Colette Kress, Nvidia’s chief financial officer, as its interim CEO. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you’re in Reader mode, exit and log in to your Times account or subscribe to all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? Sign in. Do you want all of The Times? Subscribe.
