Can Nvidia keep writing AI’s checks without Jensen Huang? TOPSHOT-TAIWAN-TECHNOLOGY James Thorne Thu, November 12, 2026 at 5:10 PM EST 3 min read NVDA -4.43% 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.
For years, the AI world has benefited from a cash machine like no other. Nvidia, whose chips power much of the more than $1 trillion expected to flow into AI this year, has used its windfalls to rain down capital on every conceivable piece of the AI value chain.
Now, the visionary behind that strategy, Jensen Huang, is gone, raising questions about how AI companies will replace their deep-pocketed booster.
In addition to backing nearly every major frontier lab, Nvidia has joined 296 VC deals since 2023—more than a third of which were done this year, PitchBook data shows. It has backed nearly one in three AI unicorns founded since 2023, and has joined a VC deal roughly every three days this year, according to PitchBook data. It has also been the go-to guarantor for the data center buildout, backstopping financing for AI labs and neoclouds alike.
"Investing in these companies [is] a once-in-a-generation opportunity. I think the only regret that I have is that I didn't invest more and sooner," Huang said on Nvidia's August earnings call.
That bullish approach to financing is now under threat as Nvidia reckons with the fallout from its CEO's indiscretions.
Under pressure from his board, Huang resigned as president, CEO and director on Thursday. The decision followed reports that Huang had an affair with a suspected Chinese spy, as well as multiple employees. CFO Colette Kress was named interim CEO, and ex-Synopsys CEO Harvey Jones is the company's first-ever board chair.
Nvidia's share of AI unicorns Nvidia backed nearly 1 in 3 AI unicorns founded since 2023, and 60% by value Share of companies32% Nvidia-backed (49 of 153) Share by value60% Nvidia-backed ($545B of $903B)
Source: PitchBook • Geography: Global • As of Nov. 12, 2026
Note: AI companies founded in 2023 or later that have reached a $1B valuation. Value is latest post-money valuation.
Nvidia investors will want reassurance that the ship is steady before underwriting any new major spending plans. Since the first major report identifying Huang as the target of a Chinese spy plot, Nvidia's market capitalization has declined by about 23%, though part of that came amid a broader selloff of AI stocks.
The immediate risk to the AI ecosystem is that Nvidia becomes so mired in investigations and a succession quagmire that it can no longer continue as AI's chief financier. (Huang oversaw about 60 direct reports by his own count, just one indication of the governance mess that Nvidia's new leadership must clean up.)
Still, there are reasons to be hopeful that the Nvidia cash machine keeps running.
In the AI gold rush, Nvidia is currently selling picks and shovels, but its future revenue growth depends on financing both miners and mining conglomerates. To date, that bet has paid out. "[Nvidia's investments are] not circular because we put a little bit of money in, and a lot of money comes back," Huang said at an investor conference in September.
Kress will lead Nvidia's first earnings call without Huang on Tuesday, which could signal changes to the company's strategy. Given that Kress is already the company's CFO, it's unlikely she will suddenly turn bearish on Nvidia's approach to financing.
Kress called the nearly $50 billion that Nvidia has invested in frontier AI labs "a small fraction of our expected free cash flow over the same period" on an August earnings call.
But with two jobs to do, a leadership vacuum to fill, and federal investigations to deal with, Kress and her leadership team may find there simply isn't time to keep doing big deals.
This article originally appeared on PitchBook News
