Nvidia investors fear CEO ouster could slow AI spending

Investors fear that the potential ouster of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang could reduce the company's willingness to finance the AI boom, adding pressure to the market's most crowded trade. Nvidia's board met Wednesday to decide his fate amid reports of extramarital affairs. Traders initially punished Nvidia shares and those of its customers, including CoreWeave and Naver, while boosting rivals Broadcom and AMD. Chinese GPU makers surged nearly 10% on hopes of gaining market share. Analysts warn that a leadership change could slow the AI build-out, as Huang has been central to Nvidia's strategy of co-investing in data centres. Nvidia has financial commitments of $164.5 billion, including a $105 billion obligation for an OpenAI data centre. While product quality is unlikely to change, analysts note that replacing Huang's strategic vision poses an enormous challenge, with no clear successor named.