Silicon Valley decries Huang ouster as Congress presses on

Venture capitalists and founders openly criticized Nvidia's removal of Jensen Huang on Thursday. Bloomberg reported that the decision sent shockwaves throughout Silicon Valley and drew a chorus of concern about what it means for the wider AI industry. In Washington, lawmakers said the resignation does not end their inquiries.bloomberg.com

The board removed Huang after reports of two affairs, one with a woman suspected of spying for China and one with an employee. He was the only CEO in Nvidia's three-decade history. Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress is now serving as interim CEO while the board looks for a permanent successor.news.bloomberglaw.com+1

Investors mourn, open-source camp regroups

"Dark, dark day," Andreessen Horowitz general partner Martin Casado wrote on X. "Horrible decision for the U.S. and the western world." Sequoia Capital partner Shaun Maguire said Huang would leave "a huge void" and called on the American AI community to "work double-time" to fill it. Conviction founder Sarah Guo called the ouster "a big loss."businessinsider.com+1

Clement Delangue is CEO of Hugging Face, which Nvidia agreed to buy for about $12.9 billion. He wrote that "this whole thing sucks" and that he wished none of it had happened, but vowed: "we'll keep fighting for open-source AI, harder than ever. This is too important to slow down now." Huang had been one of the leading opponents of both U.S. export controls and government rules on open models. Cato Institute analyst Juan Londoño warned that the open-weight movement no longer has an industry champion.fortune.com+2

Not everyone was critical of the board. Dan Ives of Yorkville Ives & Co. said it "had no choice," and investor Ross Gerber said "Nvidia needs to be bigger than one man." USA Today reported that OpenAI, Meta and Anthropic have stayed notably silent.usatoday.com+1

Congress still wants answers

House Foreign Affairs Chairman Brian Mast told reporters Thursday that Huang had agreed on Wednesday night to testify, after several lawmakers threatened to subpoena him. The testimony is expected before Thanksgiving. It will take place behind closed doors but will be videotaped and transcribed. "He has some very serious questions to answer," Mast said.techcrunch.com

Sen. Elizabeth Warren said Huang's resignation does not absolve him or the company of responsibility for putting national security at risk. Also on Thursday, Sen. Ron Wyden and Rep. Richard Neal opened an investigation into the Trump administration's approval of Nvidia chip sales to Chinese companies. In a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, they said the administration had approved H200 sales despite reportedly knowing about Huang's "compromising relationship."democrats-waysandmeans.house.gov+2

Uncertainty ahead

Lloyd Blankfein, the former Goldman Sachs CEO, called the episode "Shakespearean," quoting the line that "the graveyards are filled with indispensable men." Biographer Stephen Witt was less sure Nvidia can move on easily. "It's like the Bulls without Jordan," he said. "I don't know how they are going to replace this guy."businessinsider.com