Key facts
- Nvidia's board was meeting late on Wednesday to decide on Huang's future, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.
- The board had expressed confidence in Huang and his leadership team on Sunday, the source said, a shift in tactics.
- Analysts and investors see Nvidia's Ian Buck and Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress as likely short-term candidates, the report said.
- Nvidia and SK Group are pursuing an AI initiative spanning data centers and next-generation chips valued at about $500 billion.
- Huang said in May that Nvidia planned to invest about $150 billion a year in Taiwan.
- TSMC, SK Hynix and Samsung did not immediately respond to requests for comment, Reuters reported.
Nvidia's partners and suppliers across Asia, from South Korea to Taiwan, are redrawing plans in case Chief Executive Jensen Huang is ousted over reports of two extramarital affairs, Reuters reported on November 12.
A source familiar with the matter told Reuters that Nvidia's board was meeting late on Wednesday to decide on Huang's future, a sharp shift from Sunday, when the board expressed confidence in Huang and his leadership team.
"We will support whatever capacity Nvidia needs, but the new CEO may not be as aggressive as Jensen," said an executive at a Taiwan supplier, who sought anonymity because the subject is sensitive. The executive feared his company's expansion could slow if a successor was not as quick to tie up manufacturing capacity.
Huang has never anointed a successor, but analysts and investors see two candidates as particularly likely, at least for the short term: Nvidia engineer Ian Buck and Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress, according to the report.
Neil Shah, vice president of research at Counterpoint Research, told Reuters: "Without him at the helm, we will likely see a slowdown in new, aggressive ecosystem-level investments and lucrative bilateral AI infrastructure deals from NVIDIA side."
Huang has built a supplier network in Taiwan during frequent visits to partners including TSMC, Foxconn and Wistron, and said in May that Nvidia planned to invest about $150 billion a year in Taiwan. Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst at TF International Securities, said Huang can turn technologies his engineers believe are possible into products the whole company commits resources to, which gives the supply chain strong order visibility.
Shares in TSMC traded 2% lower, SK Hynix fell 1.6% and Samsung Electronics rose 0.8%. TSMC, SK Hynix and Samsung did not immediately respond to requests for comment, Reuters reported.
In China, AI companies are seeking to secure overseas access to Nvidia chips, concerned the scandal could spur Washington to tighten curbs on remote access to advanced processors, Reuters reported on Thursday. Companies in South Korea, home to key suppliers of the high-bandwidth memory used in Nvidia's AI chips, were assessing what a leadership change could mean for their expanding ties with the US firm. Nvidia and SK Group, parent of memory chipmaker SK Hynix, are pursuing an AI initiative encompassing large-scale data centers and next-generation chips valued at about $500 billion.
Huang has extended partnerships beyond semiconductors into robotics and AI factories. Lee Hae-jin, founder of South Korean internet firm Naver, said Huang personally sketched a roadmap for collaboration on a whiteboard when Lee visited the US. An official at a South Korean chip company with business ties to Nvidia said: "We've built strong ties with Huang over the years," adding: "Our biggest question is whether a potential successor would maintain the same favourable relationship with us."
Lian Jye Su, chief analyst at Omdia, said Huang's exit may shift Nvidia's long-term direction, and any slowdown in execution or loss of clarity over its product roadmap could give rivals more room to catch up. Armina Rosenberg, portfolio manager and co-founder of Minotaur Capital, which holds Nvidia shares, said: "The chips Nvidia will ship over the next year or two are already designed and in production, and its customers' 2027 spending plans don't depend on who runs the company."