The Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal reports that Nvidia invested in AI startups that then purchased its GPUs and built data centers, allegedly to sustain the perception of high demand and absorb excess semiconductor supply from TSMC. The report also notes that CFO and acting CEO Colette Kress pushed to scale back such circular financing arrangements after Jensen Huang's resignation. If substantiated, the allegation would directly undermine market assumptions about genuine AI compute demand.

A Wall Street Journal report indicates Jensen Huang's removal stemmed primarily from Nvidia's risky credit guarantee program rather than his personal life. The program offered AI cloud providers billions in guarantees to purchase Nvidia chips, with the largest deal involving talks with OpenAI over a $250 billion guarantee that interim CEO Colette Kress halved after internal valuation concerns.

Jensen Huang has stepped down as Nvidia CEO after more than 33 years, with CFO Colette Kress serving as interim chief, according to The Wall Street Journal. The report says Huang privately described Kress as "a deer in the headlights" and questioned her ability to shape strategy, while Kress has raised concerns about credit-based guarantee deals tied to Huang's son-in-law. Nvidia is now searching for a permanent CEO.