SoFi chief market Strategist on an Nvidia without Jensen Huang: 'What happens without the visionary?' Paige Oamek Thu, November 12, 2026 at 10:40 AM EST 2 min read NVDA -5.27% Trade NVIDIA on Coinbase Trading disclosure Trading disclosure The above button links to Coinbase. Yahoo Finance is not a broker-dealer or investment adviser and does not offer securities or cryptocurrencies for sale or facilitate trading. Coinbase pays us for certain activity generated through this link. Prices displayed are informational.
Financial and tech industry voices are trying to read the tea leaves in the wake of Nvidia (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang's resignation on Thursday.
"I think the market can survive without positive results from Nvidia in the short term," said Liz Thomas, SoFi's chief market strategist during Yahoo Finance Invest. "It does bring into question what we've been talking about for the last, better part of the last year, which is a lot of these circular relationships."
Nvidia stock fell more than 13% in early trading Thursday before paring some of those losses following the news that Jensen Huang had resigned as CEO and CFO Colette Kress was named interim CEO.
The market is jittery right now, but some investors believe that may create buying opportunities.
"It's a time of caution," said investor Eric Jackson, founder and president of EMJ Capital, who said he is looking for opportunities beyond Nvidia and memory stocks. "There's been a repricing in a number of stocks, so it's actually a great time to kind of start to make your list."
When it comes to the future of Nvidia, however, Thomas noted that the question remains: "What happens without the visionary?" Thomas compared Huang's reign to Apple's Steve Jobs era.
At Yahoo Finance Invest, Moor Insights & Strategy CEO and chief analyst Patrick Moorhead agreed there are similarities between this moment for the chipmaker and Apple (AAPL), but made the distinction that "Apple had a multiyear transition plan that was in place," whereas Nvidia's succession plan feels very much up in the air.
Speaking of Apple, in a note to clients on Thursday morning, Yorkville Ives managing director Dan Ives said he sees Apple's Tim Cook "as a dark horse candidate" for Nvidia's new CEO.
Regardless of who Nvidia's next permanent CEO is, the AI trade is facing a number of challenges. When it comes to fears around the AI data center build-out, Thomas said Nvidia's shake-up is adding fuel to that fire.
"The concern over the idea that maybe capex doesn't come in as large as everybody expected it to next year, maybe earnings don't materialize in the same strength. And I think those are all reasonable assumptions to make," Thomas said. "Maybe things won't be as euphoric as they have been — the growth rates can slow though without the trade dying."
