European and Asian shares mostly fell on Friday as investors weighed what Jensen Huang’s resignation as Nvidia CEO could mean for the global artificial intelligence industry.
European stock indices opened lower, with the FTSE 100 in London down 0.2% at the open, and the benchmark indices down 0.3% in Paris and Frankfurt. US stock futures also edged lower, including the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100.
In the US, Nvidia shares had closed down 4.3% on Thursday. The S&P 500, the Nasdaq Composite and the Dow Jones Industrial Average each fell about 0.4%, with the Dow closing at 52,297.09. Some Nvidia rivals gained, including Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), which rose 5.9%.
Nvidia said on Thursday that Huang had stepped down as president, chief executive and board member with immediate effect. The announcement followed reports of two affairs, including one with a woman suspected of spying for China, which raised US national security concerns. Nvidia’s long-serving chief financial officer, Colette Kress, stepped in as interim CEO.
The departure of Huang, who co-founded Nvidia and was a key architect of its AI strategy and the broader global AI boom, has raised questions about how it could affect the development of the technology. Huang had been the face of Nvidia and was seen by some in the industry as bigger than the company itself.
Ben Barringer, head of technology research at Quilter Cheviot, said he does not expect any short-term impact on the company, provided its order book remains strong and it continues to deliver on its performance targets.
Barringer added: “What this news threatens to do is harm the wider AI ecosystem in the longer term. Huang is hugely influential in the debates around AI regulation and has developed Nvidia into the leader in AI investment and financing. With his voice now removed from the table, and the potential for Nvidia to pivot on its strategy over time, the company may not carry the sway it once did.”
Many AI hardware stocks across Asia have been highly dependent on the pace of AI infrastructure development in the US.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed up 0.5% at 61,142.35, while South Korea’s Kospi fell 1.0% to close at 5,290.53. Shanghai’s Composite closed 0.6% lower at 3,634.35, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down more than 1.5% at 23,637.60 at around 09:00 GMT.
Chip stocks were mixed on Friday. At the 07:30 CET close in Tokyo, Tokyo Electron rose 1.7%, while Kioxia fell 2.2% and OpenAI investor SoftBank Group lost 5.1%. In Seoul, Samsung Electronics fell 1.0%, and SK Hynix dropped 3.2%.
Taiwan’s Taiex closed 1.35% higher at 43,675.12, with TSMC up 0.43%, and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 closed down 0.7% at 9,082.20.
Stocks were also under broad pressure from an increase in oil prices after US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the US didn’t “need a deal with Iran” even as the conflict in the Middle East drags on.
“We don’t need a deal with Iran,” he posted on social media. “Those days have long since passed. We’ve got their money, Hundreds of Billions of Dollars, and we’ve got their Strait!”
At around 07:00 GMT, Brent crude was up 0.7% at $96.48 a barrel, compared with roughly $72 a barrel before the Iran war began in late February. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate rose 0.2% to $88.91 a barrel.
US gold futures for December delivery edged up to $3,899.00 a troy ounce in European morning trade.
In currency markets, the euro rose to $1.1061 from $1.1055 on Thursday and strengthened to 83.60 pence from 83.53 pence. Sterling fell to $1.3229 from $1.3235, while the dollar eased to 159.79 yen from 159.84 yen.