US stock indices declined after Nvidia President and CEO Jensen Huang resigned, adding fresh uncertainty to the global AI sector. The S&P 500 fell 0.8%, the Nasdaq 100 lost more than 1%, and the Dow finished roughly unchanged.
Nvidia shares dropped 14% after CFO Colette Kress was appointed interim CEO, following a board meeting at which Huang stepped down. His resignation was linked to his ties with a Megaspeed executive widely suspected of being a Chinese intelligence asset. Under Huang’s leadership, Nvidia’s market capitalization swelled to nearly $6 trillion, and he spearheaded deal-making across the AI supply chain, making the leadership shake-up reverberate throughout the global tech sector.
Elsewhere in semiconductors, AMD and Broadcom advanced, even as many AI infrastructure names sold off sharply. Nebius fell nearly 10% after announcing delays to parts of its data center capacity expansion. Outside the AI complex, other sectors provided some relief, rebounding as Tuesday’s hotter-than-expected CPI print reinforced expectations for additional Federal Reserve rate hikes in the current tightening cycle.
