Huang Renxun's "flash resignation", Nvidia's market value evaporated by more than 1.2 trillion yuan

On November 12th, Eastern Time, NVIDIA officially issued an announcement on its official website, announcing that company co-founder Jensen Huang would resign as president, chief executive officer (CEO) and board member, effective immediately.

This "flash resignation" decision without a buffer period brought an end to Huang Renxun's 33-year career at the helm of Nvidia.

Faced with the sudden departure of its founder, NVIDIA's board of directors quickly announced a "dual-track transition" plan in order to stabilize military morale and market expectations in the shortest possible time:

• Business operations: Colette Kress, current executive vice president and chief financial officer (CFO), was appointed interim CEO and continues to serve in her original position.

As a powerful figure who has worked at NVIDIA for more than ten years, is well versed in the company's operating and financial systems, and has extensive experience in capital market communication, Kress can be regarded as the "ballast stone" that can best ensure the smooth transition of the business.

• Governance restructuring: Senior director and semiconductor industry veteran Harvey C. Jones becomes the first chairman of the board of directors in the company's history.

Nvidia has never established a chairman of the board of directors since its founding. This break from convention means that the company has adjusted the leadership structure of the board of directors to fill the vacuum left by Jensen Huang's departure.

At present, the selection process of the official CEO has also been started simultaneously.

After the news was announced, the capital market immediately voted with its feet, and Nvidia's US stock price plummeted by more than 10% before the market opened.

As of the close of U.S. stocks on the 12th, Nvidia fell 4.34%, and its market value evaporated by nearly 182 billion U.S. dollars, equivalent to more than 1.2 trillion yuan in RMB.

It is not difficult to understand the panic of investors - over the past decade or so, Huang Renxun has relied on his unique vision and personal leadership to establish his position in the AI ​​era using the CUDA ecosystem and GPU architecture.

According to CNBC, investment banks such as Jianda Financial immediately lowered Nvidia's target stock price in research reports. Analyst Muse pointed out that the core test facing the company is how to maintain its technology roadmap in the "post-Huang Renxun era." "I think his forced departure is a big loss for Nvidia, and it's also a big loss for the United States."

Next, the market will focus on three major points:

1. Financial report test on November 17: Nvidia’s official website clearly stated that it will release the latest quarterly financial report as usual after the market closes on November 17, local time. In his first public appearance after losing his "backbone", how interim CEO Kress delivers performance answers to Wall Street and calms investor sentiment is crucial.

2. Quality inspection: After breaking away from Huang Renxun’s personal halo, Nvidia can maintain its previous competitiveness in terms of its software ecosystem and computing power iteration speed when facing competition from self-developed chips from AMD, Broadcom, and major cloud vendors.

3. Suspense over the selection of the new coach: Whether the successor will be promoted from internal technology and business executives, or an industry leader with strong political and business coordination capabilities will be parachuted in from the outside, which will directly determine Nvidia's future strategic direction.

U.S. President Trump made a public announcement on social media on the 12th, saying that former Apple CEO Tim Cook is the "only candidate" to succeed Jensen Huang after the resignation of Nvidia's long-time helmsman.

The curtain of the "post-Huang Renxun era" has begun, and Nvidia's real stress test may have just begun now.