By Aditya Soni
Nov 9 (Reuters) – On the streets of Taipei and Seoul, fans of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang mob him for autographs on books, posters and sometimes even on their bodies. In private, even billionaires Larry Ellison and Elon Musk were once reduced to “begging” for his coveted AI chips.
The star power that 63-year-old Huang draws as the gatekeeper to Nvidia’s chips shows how badly the AI industry is leaning on him for the graphics processing units that train models and run services such as ChatGPT.
But he is not just a chip supplier; instead Nvidia has in recent years turned its swelling cash pile into a war chest to fund companies ranging from AI cloud-computing providers and suppliers to the biggest labs.
Analysts say that makes Huang a potential risk to the AI industry as Nvidia investigates whether he was targeted by foreign intelligence after Huang confirmed his affair with a Chinese businesswoman accused of passing information to Beijing.
“It is hard not to read the news over the weekend as negative given it brings the stewardship of one of America’s most important companies and the architect of the US AI trajectory under debate,” Stacy Rasgon, analyst at Bernstein, said.
“Nvidia is not an ordinary company and Jensen is not an ordinary CEO; he is Nvidia, clearly sets the long-term strategy and direction, and pulls most of the company’s strings himself.”
VOCAL AI CHAMPION
Such is Huang’s spell that a casual night of fried chicken and beer in Seoul with the CEOs of Samsung and Hyundai last year sent the shares of two South Korean food companies soaring, while his endorsement of Marvell Technology as the next “trillion-dollar company” propelled the shares of the custom chipmaker to record highs.
As a leading counterweight to AI skeptics, Huang has often dismissed fears of a bubble and challenged Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei’s apocalyptic warning that the technology could pose an existential threat to humanity.
Any setback for Huang could deprive the AI industry of one of its most vocal champions who has often argued that the technology would transform everything from computing and manufacturing to healthcare and robotics.
AI’S CHIP ALLOCATOR-IN-CHIEF AND A POWERFUL BOSS
Huang’s influence goes beyond talking up AI. He holds sway over the supply of the chips that can determine how fast AI companies spending tens of billions of dollars can grow.
That status was validated by Oracle co-founder Ellison in September 2024 when he recounted a dinner at Nobu in Palo Alto.