Bouquets of flowers and at least one candle appeared outside Nvidia's headquarters in Santa Clara, California, on Thursday, hours after founder and chief executive Jensen Huang resigned amid a widening personal and security scandal. The makeshift tribute at the company's entrance sign, at 2788 San Tomas Expressway, has become the visual shorthand for a leadership crisis at one of the world's most valuable companies.

Photographers captured several bundles of flowers resting against the Nvidia sign in front of the building. One man was photographed placing a white candle in a glass jar beside them. Whether the tributes came from employees, shareholders or passers-by, the source images do not say — and that gap matters when reading the scene as a measure of internal sentiment.

Why did Huang resign?

Huang resigned Thursday morning in the middle of a scandal involving one confirmed extramarital affair and two additional reported relationships. A board investigation is also examining whether Huang was the target of a foreign intelligence operation. Nvidia has not publicly released the investigation's findings.

The resignation ended the tenure of a founder who, together with his signature leather jacket, had become largely synonymous with Nvidia itself. Huang was among the most visible figures of the AI boom, and the tributes outside headquarters underscore how influential he had become as the company grew into a leader in that market.

What does the exit change for Nvidia's leadership and shareholders?

Nvidia named CFO Colette Kress interim CEO while the board searches for a permanent replacement. The company's future without Huang remains uncertain, and no succession timeline has been disclosed.

Investors have already rendered a first verdict. As of Thursday, the stock was down 13% since Friday's market close — the last trading session before Huang's admission of infidelity and the board's investigation became public. That figure prices in known facts only; the intelligence-operation inquiry (a review of whether a foreign service sought leverage over the CEO) could move the stock either way once conclusions are published, or if they never are.

Leaders across the business and technology world weighed in on what Huang's absence will mean for the chipmaker, though the company itself has stayed focused on continuity. On Thursday, workers carrying Nvidia's signature green badges and backpacks appeared to be going to work as normal amid the shake-up.

The practical questions that remain open

Several things the tributes cannot answer:

• Who will succeed Huang permanently, and on what timetable.
• Whether the board's investigation into the foreign intelligence angle will be made public.
• Whether Kress, who now holds both the CFO and interim CEO roles, is a candidate for the permanent post.
• How much of Nvidia's customer and partner relationships — built substantially on Huang's personal visibility — transfer to a new chief executive.

For now, the scene outside 2788 San Tomas Expressway is the story's quiet center: flowers, a candle in a glass jar, and employees walking past them to their desks as though it were an ordinary Thursday. It was not. The stock's 13% slide since Friday says the market thinks the departure of a founder synonymous with his company carries a real cost — though markets, like mourners, have a record of revising first judgments.