by Coinstrooper Crypto Articles
Quick Take
  • Now that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, the man whose chips powered the AI boom, has resigned, investors are left asking whether the boom can survive without him.
  • The 10 biggest US companies make up 36% to 40% of the S&P 500, so an AI selloff reaches millions of American retirement funds.
  • Nvidia entered a bear market, down 20% from its peak, on November 9.
  • Huang resigned from Nvidia Thursday after admitting an affair with a woman US officials suspect is a Chinese spy.

What Happened

Now that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, the man whose chips powered the AI boom, has resigned, investors are left asking whether the boom can survive without him. Nvidia shares sank more than 10% on Thursday.

Nvidia sits at the center of that circle, a Bloomberg map of AI deals shows. It invests in, sells to or buys from OpenAI, Anthropic, CoreWeave and others.

That is why Huang’s exit could matter beyond Nvidia. Investor and analyst Nic Puckrin says Huang negotiated nearly all of those deals. He asks whether a successor could build similar ones.

Borrowing to buy stocks has stalled. Margin debt, the money investors borrow from brokers, was $1.48 trillion in September, FINRA data shows. That is below June’s record of $1.502 trillion.

Market Context

The cracks started before he quit. Nvidia entered a bear market, down 20% from its peak, on November 9.

Market research account Bull Theory called the bubble early in February. Its new scorecard rates six of eight warning signs “late,” though it still sees the peak in 2027 or 2028.

The S&P 500’s cyclically adjusted price-to-earnings (CAPE) ratio, which compares prices with 10 years of profits, is near 40. The 2000 record was 44.2.

Why It Matters

His exit adds a risk of its own. Like Intel in 2018, Nvidia has handed the top job to its finance chief as interim CEO.

Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta and Oracle are expected to spend $660 billion on AI infrastructure this year. That is 60% more than in 2025, FactSet and Goldman Sachs estimates show.

“Replacing Jensen as CEO of Nvidia could backfire on the ENTIRE AI boom. Why? Because of this chart. Jensen has been one of the biggest architects of circular financing. This has been propping up those valuations and nearly all of these deals were negotiated by him. Would a successor be able to engineer similar structures? And does uncertainty with Nvidia’s direction call into question this broader gambit?”

Cheap money has gone, too. Hotter-than-expected October inflation pushed the 10-year Treasury yield back to about 5%. Now, CME FedWatch odds stand over 90% for a December Fed hike.

Details

Nvidia reports earnings in five days without him. The 10 biggest US companies make up 36% to 40% of the S&P 500, so an AI selloff reaches millions of American retirement funds.

How Far Have the AI Boom’s Biggest Winners Fallen?

Huang resigned from Nvidia Thursday after admitting an affair with a woman US officials suspect is a Chinese spy.

Intel stock then lost 11.7% that year, while the S&P 500 gained 6.8%.

On November 5, after Democrats swept the midterms, the S&P 500 lost about $3 trillion in a day. The Nasdaq 100 fell 6.36% in that day’s crash.

CoreWeave now sits 55.96% below its 2026 high, and Oracle is down 47.89%.

Who Is Paying for the AI Boom?

Anthropic’s IPO filing shows about $895.4 billion in data-center commitments through 2045, Fortune reported.

Some of that money moves in a circle. Broadcom can lend Anthropic up to $42 billion to pay rent on computing power, much of it Broadcom hardware. Broadcom is the supplier, the lender and a possible future shareholder.

Columbia professor Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh named the catch.

“Supplier financing supports construction; ultimately, paying for it requires revenue from end customers.”

CoreWeave’s bonds due 2032 yield above 16%, Bull Theory says.

Is the AI Boom a Bubble or a Buying Chance?