{"id":97742,"date":"2026-11-10T06:05:24","date_gmt":"2026-11-10T13:05:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.opinionpublica.tv\/portada\/?p=97742"},"modified":"2026-11-10T06:05:26","modified_gmt":"2026-11-10T13:05:26","slug":"nvidias-board-has-a-history-of-letting-jensen-huang-get-his-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.opinionpublica.tv\/portada\/nvidias-board-has-a-history-of-letting-jensen-huang-get-his-way\/","title":{"rendered":"Nvidia\u2019s board has a history of letting Jensen Huang get his way"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Nvidia\u2019s<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In 1993, Sequoia Capital and Sutter Hill Ventures led a $2 million funding round for Nvidia, a start-up that made chips for video games. Mark A. Stevens, an investor at Sequoia, and Tench Coxe, an investor at Sutter Hill, then joined Nvidia\u2019s board of directors. They watched the company struggle as it burned cash and its earliest products failed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t clear if Nvidia was ever going to, sort of, have escape velocity,\u201d Mr. Stevens recalled on a podcast in 2023. \u201cWe were very concerned about, are we going to lose this company or not?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three decades later, under the leadership of Jensen Huang, its co-founder and chief executive, Nvidia is one of the most valuable companies in the world. Its chips are an essential component of the giant artificial intelligence projects that are driving the U.S. economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, Nvidia\u2019s 10-member board of directors \u2014 a collection of early investors, longtime partners and other business executives \u2014 faces a daunting task: investigating their celebrity C.E.O. On Sunday, Mr. Huang admitted to an extramarital relationship with a businesswoman whom U.S. intelligence agencies have determined was a spy for China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(China has rejected the espionage claims. Alice Huang, the Chinese executive accused of spying for Beijing, has not responded to requests for comment.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nvidia\u2019s board is coming into this investigation with a track record of both loyalty and deference to Mr. Huang, exposing them to criticism that they were unprepared for him to become the Silicon Valley company\u2019s biggest vulnerability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSubstantial experience does not always translate to willingness to provide full oversight, especially if that long tenure has built strong connections to the C.E.O.,\u201d said Allison Henry, a clinical assistant professor of management and organizations at Northwestern University\u2019s Kellogg School of Management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nvidia does not appear to even have a succession plan for Mr. Huang, and it does not have an obvious internal candidate to replace him. Mr. Huang, 63, said in 2023 that he believed he could run the company for three or four more decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

None of Nvidia\u2019s board members responded to requests for comment on Monday, and a company spokesman declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Setting up a succession plan for Mr. Huang was internally discussed over the years, former Nvidia executives said, but Mr. Huang resisted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe didn\u2019t like the idea,\u201d said Rene Haas, the chief executive of the chip design company Arm Holdings, who worked at Nvidia from 2006 to 2013. He discussed Mr. Huang\u2019s management style in a 2024 interview. \u201cHe felt it would create competition among executives and be divisive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of Nvidia\u2019s board members \u2014 with a combined 161 years of serving on the board \u2014 have a long history with Mr. Huang, who has shown that his big bets usually pay off for his company and the people backing him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the first examples was Synopsys, a Silicon Valley company that supplied key software needed to design chips. Two former Synopsys leaders joined Nvidia\u2019s board of directors in the 1990s: Harvey C. Jones, the software company\u2019s onetime chief executive, and A. Brooke Seawell, its former chief financial officer. The Nvidia shares of the two former Synopsys executives were worth a combined $1.86 billion as of June.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Huang is by far the largest individual shareholder in Nvidia with a 3.56 percent stake, making him one of the wealthiest people in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among other individual shareholders, Mr. Stevens and Mr. Coxe, his early investors and board members, are second and third on the list. When Mr. Stevens last sold shares in the company, in September, his stake was worth $6.22 billion. When Mr. Coxe last gave away shares, in November, his stake was worth $5.62 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other board members are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dawn Hudson, the former chief marketing officer of the National Football League;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephen C. Neal, the former chief executive of the law firm Cooley LLP;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John O. Dabiri, an engineering professor;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aarti Shah, the former chief information officer at the drugmaker Eli Lilly;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Melissa B. Lora, the former president of Taco Bell;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suzanne Nora Johnson, the former vice chairman of Goldman Sachs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Huang has viewed Nvidia\u2019s board primarily as a governance requirement, rather than as an important part of the company\u2019s strategy or execution, according to three former employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has taken that same go-it-alone approach to building his executive team, emphasizing an anti-bureaucratic management philosophy designed to make big decisions quickly. He has more than 60 direct reports, putting him at the center of the company\u2019s day-to-day operations, despite a hectic travel schedule that often takes him from California to Washington to Asia and back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Nvidia\u2019s current predicament presents considerable challenges for a company so dependent on one man. Nvidia\u2019s independent board members will choose an outside counsel to investigate. A company spokesman said that Mr. Huang would not be part of the selection process, but he will continue to lead Nvidia during the investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe best way to weather this kind of storm in the world of public opinion is to have the C.E.O. or whoever is caught out apologize publicly and cede control at least temporarily to another party,\u201d said Jo-Ellen Pozner, associate professor of management at Santa Clara University\u2019s Leavey School of Business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Huang has also given his children substantial power and authority at Nvidia, according to five current and former employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His son, Spencer, is a director of product management and plays a leading role in Nvidia\u2019s robotics efforts. His daughter, Madison, is a senior director of product marketing who also works on robotics, as well as communications and marketing. And his son-in-law, Nico Caprez, works on business development for the company. That has created the impression among some at the company that he is nurturing his children to eventually succeed him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an interview last month, when asked whether Madison was in line to succeed him, Mr. Huang said: \u201cI don\u2019t wish the job on her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf the C.E.O. doesn\u2019t do his job according to 12 or 15 board members, the C.E.O. is let go,\u201d Mr. Huang said in January. But, he added, \u201cthere will never be one like me, and the reason for that is because I was raised by the company.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wouldn\u2019t be easy to pick a manager inside Nvidia that could temporarily run the company, said Jeff Christian, chief executive of Christian & Timbers, an executive recruiting firm that frequently works with Silicon Valley companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most current executives have responsibilities for specific products or technology areas, not broad responsibilities with thousands of people reporting to them. The question is, he said, is whether directors will at some point feel compelled to ask Mr. Huang to step aside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe\u2019s such a big personality,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like trying to fire the owner.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n