Who could replace Jensen Huang as Nvidia’s chief executive?

Ten Cap’s Liu believes it is a matter of time in terms of Huang stepping down as Nvidia’s chief executive.

“The issue is no longer simply about personal conduct,” she said. “It is about corporate governance, national security concerns and maintaining confidence in the leadership of one of the world’s most strategically important companies.”

Several major investment firms have downgraded their forecasts for the chip giant – a rare shift given investors’ longstanding optimism about the company.

Stacy Rasgon, senior analyst in US semiconductors at Bernstein Research, wrote in a note to investors that “our gut tells us we probably haven’t fully probed the depths of what might be found here”.

Rasgon halved Bernstein’s share price target for Nvidia and said: “We’ve had enough and prefer to watch from the sidelines.”

Ray Wang, chief executive of Constellation Research, said the crisis isn’t so much an issue for the wider AI industry but rather one for Nvidia itself which has to consider if the person it appoints as its chief executive has the same appeal as Huang.

“That’s really what the issue is, because a lot of these partnerships and investments have been made because of the trust with with Jensen,” he said.

Additional reporting by Kali Hays