During a Bloomberg interview, Yorkville Ives partner Dan Ives argued that Huang remains indispensable to Nvidia and the broader U.S. technology industry.
- Ives noted that Nvidia faces an unusually significant leadership dependency, describing Huang as potentially the most consequential executive at any company.
- He maintained that Huang’s importance to Nvidia’s AI ambitions outweighs the immediate concerns surrounding the controversy.
- Ives also suggested that Huang’s ability to maintain relationships across the global technology industry makes him particularly difficult to replace.
Former Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang continues to remain under scrutiny over his extramarital affairs and concerns of export of AI chips to China, but prominent voices in the technology and investment worlds continue to back the longtime executive.
During an interview with Bloomberg on Friday, Yorkville Ives partner Dan Ives argued that Huang remains indispensable to Nvidia and the broader U.S. technology industry, even as the controversy raises questions about the company’s exposure to geopolitical tensions.
Nvidia shares fell more than 2% in Friday’s regular trading, declining over 1% more during the afterhours session.
Ives Says Jensen Huang Is ‘Irreplaceable’ To Nvidia
Ives noted that Nvidia faces an unusually significant leadership dependency, describing Huang as potentially the most consequential executive at any company. He maintained that Huang’s importance to Nvidia’s AI ambitions outweighs the immediate concerns surrounding the controversy.
“Jensen’s worth $1 trillion to the story,” Ives said, adding that he continues to see Nvidia as a compelling investment.
“My view is there’s one chip in the world view in the AI revolution, it’s Nvidia,” he said. “You can’t change that. That’s not changing.”
Ives also suggested that Huang’s ability to maintain relationships across the global technology industry makes him particularly difficult to replace.
He identified Apple Inc. (AAPL) CEO Tim Cook, Palo Alto Networks Inc. (PANW) CEO Nikesh Arora and Alphabet Inc. (GOOG, GOOGL) CEO Sundar Pichai as executives who could play important roles in representing the U.S. technology industry.
On Huang’s future, Ives floated two possibilities, which is, he either works with Elon Musk at Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SPCX) to build out its hyperscale ambitions or eventually launch another company of his own.
“From a technology perspective, he is irreplaceable. It’s an asset for the United States relative to China that he continues to innovate,” he said.
Musk, Gavin Baker And Others Rally Behind Nvidia CEO
Ives’ comments come amid broader support for Huang from prominent figures in the technology and investment communities, including Tesla Inc. (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk and investor Gavin Baker.
The backing comes as Nvidia faces questions over reports that chips routed through Singapore and other channels may have ultimately reached China.
Ives argued that investors should distinguish between Nvidia’s most advanced processors and older-generation chips allegedly involved in the controversy.
“I would view it more as the latter. Like, you know, there was like I view it more as like their second third rate Nvidia chips. Not what I view is like the gold standard when you think about everything we see with Rubin and Blackwell,” he said.
Ives also warned that the controversy could prompt a major crackdown on export-control loopholes.
“The data that matters the most, is that this is going to cause almost a major shut down from the export control,” Ives said.
Nevertheless, he argued that Nvidia’s technological lead remains substantial, estimating that its chips are two to three years ahead of domestic Chinese rival Huawei.
Despite the Washington scrutiny, Ives reiterated his bullish stance on Nvidia, saying he sees fair value at $225 per share and remains a buyer at current levels.
What Retail Investors Think Of NVDA Stock
Retail sentiment on Stocktwits around Nvidia trended in the ‘extremely bullish’ territory at the time of writing.
NVDA stock is down 13% year-to-date. The S&P 500 ETF (SPY) and the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) are up 12% over the past 12 months.
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