Nasdaq wavers as traders weigh Nvidia CEO exit, AMD climbs

The Nasdaq Composite fluctuated on Thursday as investors assessed the departure of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, betting it would not derail the whole AI trade.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq was last down 0.3%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average traded around the flatline. The S&P 500 fell 0.1%.

Selling pressure on Nvidia eased a bit, with the stock last down 5%. The shares were down double digits at one point after the company announced that Huang had resigned and named CFO Colette Kress as interim CEO. This comes after Huang reportedly had an affair with an alleged Chinese spy.

Investors moved into competitors of Nvidia, including Advanced Micro Devices and Broadcom, helping to bolster the market. AMD shares were up 4%, while Broadcom gained 5%.

Hyperscalers Microsoft and Alphabet — key buyers of Nvidia chips and leaders of the AI rally — also increased.

“This is a golden opportunity for Amazon, for Google, for AMD, for Broadcom, for OpenAI and Anthropic, who are hiring chip experts to help them design their own chips,” said Jed Ellerbroek, portfolio manager at Argent Capital Management.

“Nvidia’s fate as one company is one thing, but this AI revolution is way bigger than that,” he also said. “If Nvidia falls from grace and their chips are no longer the best, and AMDs are better or Google’s are better, then people will switch over and buy them. The demand for the chips is not is not going down.”

There was a sense from investors that perhaps Huang’s exit was a capitulation event for the AI trade with Nvidia’s stock down by more than 25% the past one month as this scandal was unfolding.

“We are sticking with the thesis that technology stocks bottomed last week,” said Tom Lee, the head of research at Fundstrat, in a note Thursday. Huang’s departure “does not change our view.”

Stocks outside of technology such as JPMorgan and Eli Lilly traded higher as well.