Asian Equities Fall as Markets Weigh Nvidia's Leadership Crisis — Update

By Sherry Qin

Asian equities were mostly lower on Thursday as the potential removal of Jensen Huang as Nvidia's chief executive triggered a stress test of the already-fragile AI trade.

Nvidia's board is preparing to oust Huang after he had two extramarital affairs, including one with a suspected Chinese spy and another with an employee, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Analysts said Huang, who is central to the company's strategic direction, customer relationships and dealings with governments, creates investment risks with his potential departure and makes succession a significant concern.

Nvidia's shares tumbled over 8% in after-market trading and helped send futures tied to the Nasdaq down 0.9%. Shares of Nvidia competitors were mixed in after hours trade, with Advanced Micro Devices stock up about 4%, Broadcom rising 2.8% while Intel shares shed 2.7%.

Markets appear to be separating Nvidia's company-specific governance crisis from the broader artificial-intelligence trade.

"Despite how interconnected the AI ecosystem has become, price action suggests investors are treating this primarily as an idiosyncratic risk to Nvidia," said Pepperstone's head of research, Chris Weston.

The issues surrounding Nvidia's chief executive hasn't affected Morningstar's forecasts of Nvidia's financials in the medium term, said Brian Colello, its senior equity analyst. That's largely because of the high costs involved in switching away from Nvidia's AI software ecosystem, he said.

Leadership in the AI market could broaden, with AMD, Broadcom, Alphabet and Samsung potentially benefiting as customers look to diversify away from Nvidia, said Charu Chanana, chief investment strategist at Saxo.

"But potential market-share gains are not the same as confirmed new business," said Chanana, adding that the bigger risk that the situation poses is a disruption to AI spending itself, given how Nvidia sits at the centre of the interconnected AI ecosystem, said Chanana.

"Nvidia's technology advantage remains intact, but an abrupt exit without a credible succession plan could create uncertainty around its partnerships, China strategy and broader AI vision," said Chanana.

Asian equities were broadly weaker as investors weighed strong tech earnings against the Nvidia risk. South Korea's Kospi dropped 1.4%, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average lost 0.8% and Taiwan's Taiex fell 2.7%.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Tech Index was 1.5% lower and China's Shanghai Composite Index declined by 0.2%.

Among Nvidia's chip suppliers in Asia, contract chip manufacturer Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. dropped 2.5%, while South Korean memory maker SK Hynix fell 0.8% but Samsung Electronics was up 1.0%.

Chinese AI chip designers rose on Thursday, with MetaX and Cambricon Technologies rallying 12% and 10%, respectively, in Shanghai trading, while Shanghai Biren Technology gained over 7% in Hong Kong.

"The news over the last two weeks of the mood shift against AI [data center] builds in the U.S. post mid-term elections, and the likely fall out from the NVIDIA/Megaspeed news, seems likely to lift demand for Chinese chips," said Peter Milliken of Deutsche Bank.

Meanwhile, oil prices fell early Thursday as traders weighed diplomatic efforts to end conflict in the Middle East.

Vice President JD Vance is considering face-to-face talks with a top Iranian security official to end the war, The Wall Street Journal reported. A direct meeting between the vice president and top Iranian security officials would be unusual and show the lengths Vance is willing to go to try to end the war.

OCBC analysts said oil's geopolitical premium is fading amid diplomatic efforts and easing fears of fresh large-scale strikes. While keeping its end-2026 Brent oil forecast at $100 a barrel, OCBC cut its end-2027 estimate to $75 a barrel from $85 a barrel.

Front-month West Texas Intermediate futures fell 1.0% to $85.71 a barrel, and front-month Brent futures were 1.0% lower at $91.81 a barrel.

Write to Sherry Qin at sherry.qin@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 12, 2026 01:11 ET (06:11 GMT)