Jensen Huang’s one-man rule over Nvidia could be its downfall

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Alice Huang (center), suspected of being a Chinese spy, attend a dinner at a restaurant in Taipei, Taiwan, in May 2025. (AFP/Yonhap)

The recent scandal surrounding Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has not only dealt a serious blow to major tech company stock prices around the world but also shown that the company has no one positioned to take his place.

The 63-year-old Huang’s “star quality” has played a major part in shoring up investment in the global artificial intelligence industry, not just with key infrastructure such as graphics processing units (GPUs) but also with massive outlays of capital. Now doubts are being raised about the sustainability of this framework.

In the 33 years since he founded Nvidia in 1993, Huang has never backed down.

According to the company’s website and reporting to the US Securities and Exchange Commission in May, the Nvidia board of directors currently consists of 11 members. Except for Huang, all members are outside directors.

The board has no chairperson, but a senior member appointed by the other members each year. The senior board member’s role is ostensibly to control the CEO, holding separate quarterly meetings without Huang in attendance.

But a closer look at the board’s makeup showed that it is packed with members boasting deep ties with Huang. Two of the outside directors, Tench Coxe and Harvey Jones, have been part of the board since the company’s founding. Foreign press reports suggest that Huang has viewed the board more or less as a formality.

Huang similarly occupies the apex of the company’s management. The company has four top managers besides him, including Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress and Executive Vice President of Operations Debora Shoquist. It does not have a separate chief operating officer.

Huang has explained that he has 50 people who report directly to him and that Nvidia has a horizontal organization with one leader.

Perhaps ironically, it is this point that has led some to comment on Nvidia’s excessive reliance on Huang as a risk factor.

An Nvidia annual report commented on the lack of a management succession plan as potentially having a negative impact on its business operations, noting that the company’s future success hinged in particular on the contributions of Huang and other top management.

The New York Times also reported that the rapidly growing roles of Huang’s children Spencer and Madison and his son-in-law Nico Caprez have been a source of discontent within the company.

On Monday, Nvidia share prices closed at US$178.67 on the New York Stock Exchange, down 4.27% from the previous trading day. The same day, US shareholders filed suit against Nvidia and Jensen Huang to demand damages for violation of federal securities laws.