By Priya Raman

Nvidia shares closed more than 4% lower on Thursday after plunging as much as 14% during the session, wiping billions from the chipmaker’s value as chief executive Jensen Huang resigned after 33 years at the helm.

Wall Street entered Friday braced for further volatility. The immediate verdict was narrow: Nvidia absorbed the reputational damage, while investors preserved exposure to the wider artificial-intelligence (AI) chip trade.

Trading outside the US was mixed. The market scorecard showed:

• The Nasdaq fell 0.39%, the S&P 500 lost 0.35%, and the Dow Jones shed 189 points.
• Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.6% and South Korea’s Kospi lost 1%.
• London’s FTSE 100 opened 0.2% lower.

Those reactions indicate a targeted shock rather than a uniform global sell-off, though Nvidia’s 14% plunge left little room for complacency ahead of Friday trading.

What caused the sell-off?

The revelations cited in the report concerned three alleged extramarital affairs involving Huang, including one with a woman whom US intelligence officials suspect of spying for China.

Huang acknowledged his relationship with Alice Huang, an executive at Singapore-based Nvidia customer Megaspeed. He has not publicly confirmed reports of two further relationships with Nvidia employees.

That distinction defines the evidentiary position. One relationship is acknowledged; two remain publicly unconfirmed. The gap leaves the personal disclosures unresolved and pushes investors toward corporate governance, meaning how the company is overseen, while they wait for operating data.

The market is separating two issues: the reputation of a leader who led Nvidia for 33 years, and the broader economics of AI chips. Huang’s departure affects Nvidia directly, but a change in one company’s leadership need not reduce overall demand for the sector.

Why did Nvidia’s rivals gain?

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Broadcom each gained more than 5% on Thursday as investors piled into rival chipmakers.

Jed Ellerbroek, portfolio manager at Argent Capital Management, called Huang’s departure a “golden opportunity” for competitors including Google, Amazon and AI developers building their own chips. “Nvidia’s fate as one company is one thing, but this AI revolution is way bigger than that. The demand for the chips is not going down,” he said.

The share-price pattern points to a change in beneficiary, not a collapse in end demand. Investors punished Nvidia shares while buying AMD and Broadcom, preserving exposure to the same AI investment theme.

This shift toward rivals helps explain why the market could absorb Huang’s exit without treating it as proof that the AI boom had ended. It also explains why the chief executive’s departure affected global equities rather than remaining confined to one stock.

Can Nvidia’s business continue without Huang?

Michael Hewson, analyst at MCH Market Insights, said the leadership crisis was unlikely to derail Nvidia’s immediate business prospects.

“Business is likely to continue as before and with the numbers out next week the noise around its chief executive while unwelcome doesn’t change the business case for Nvidia,” Hewson said, “even if it raises some questions about its corporate governance.”

His assessment separates near-term operating continuity from reputational damage. A leadership change can unsettle investors without changing the business case, and the earnings release becomes the first major test of the outlook under interim chief executive Colette Kress.

Nvidia is due to report quarterly earnings on Tuesday. That report will test whether the operating case holds, while investors assess whether the noise around Huang has obscured a stable business under Kress.

The coming results also carry a governance test. Hewson’s view treats the crisis as unwelcome but not necessarily business-ending; Tuesday provides the first scheduled numerical checkpoint after Huang’s resignation.