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The original of this material in English can be read here.
If I told you a week ago that Jensen Huang was about to leave Nvidia, you wouldn't have believed me.
The man who pioneered this wildly successful artificial intelligence chip company, which he built almost from scratch and led through critical crises with boundless energy and steely determination, ultimately ruined his career because of his personal life.
It's a fascinating story, and a surprisingly old-fashioned one for a technology company looking to the future.
It has spawned many viral memes. In some, Huang appears as a man who was caught by a kissing camera at a Coldplay concert in the arms of a married colleague. On others, he performs George Michael's famous song Careless Whisper about betrayal.
The irony is that all these images and videos were created using artificial intelligence - the very technology that Huang devoted so much effort to developing.
This week I sat down with two Silicon Valley CEOs to ask how they felt about what was happening.
“Through memes,” came the answer.
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However, they did not seem to believe that Huang could be forced to leave due to alleged adultery.
According to them, the stakes are too high: the entire artificial intelligence industry is so dependent on Nvidia chips that no one will want to destroy a successful business model.
In other words, Silicon Valley was on his side.
But then rumors surfaced of a second affair—this time with a colleague—and the board of directors decided Huang had gone too far.
Now his behavior appeared in a completely different light: it turned out that he was capable of making wrong decisions and hiding them.
Long hours and competitive spirit
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Huang always strived to stand out from the rest.
During the coronavirus pandemic, he broadcast his keynote speeches directly from his own kitchen. She became famous on the Internet in her own right, although it was later revealed that these broadcasts were created using artificial intelligence.
Huang is rarely seen without a leather jacket. He joked that he only had one suit and borrowed a tie from his daughter’s boyfriend.
Huang moved in the circles of the world elite. Among his acquaintances were Donald Trump, Elon Musk and King Charles III of Great Britain.
The last time I saw him was last year at St James's Palace, where he was presented with the prestigious Queen's Award for Engineering.
I was warned that he would not talk to the press. However, Huang himself approached me, and we talked for about ten minutes, while the press service officers nervously watched us from the side. He spoke clearly and forcefully, speaking optimistically about the development of artificial intelligence and the UK's role in this process.
For many, Huang was the personification of Nvidia. Up to 200 people were directly subordinate to him.
He made high demands on his employees. In The Nvidia Way, a book about the internal life of the company, its author Tae Kim wrote that the working day in the office was long.
Huang could make comments harshly and publicly. He did not hesitate to point out the mistakes of individual employees at general team meetings.
Now his own shortcomings have been exposed to public view, and his career has ended as ruthlessly as he himself sometimes treated his subordinates.
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Nvidia without Huang
Colette Kress, who will lead Nvidia on an interim basis, is well known within the company, which will likely be a reassuring factor for some of its employees.
She's been with Nvidia for 13 years, and those who follow the company's impressive financial performance regularly see her on quarterly earnings calls with investors. Kress is a billionaire herself and holds a high position in the technology industry.
However, she is not an engineer, and Nvidia products are extremely technically sophisticated.
She will have to convince investors that Nvidia will continue to operate as usual, maintain the pace of innovation for which it has become known, and will not lose key talent when Huang leaves.
Problems at Nvidia would be bad news for the entire artificial intelligence industry. Its ever-improving chips power the world's most powerful AI models. The company also plays something of a central bank for the industry, providing financing to other companies.
As for Huang himself, it can be assumed that the investigation into his relationship with a woman suspected of spying for China will continue. Its results may well determine the further development of Huang's career.
Despite his behavior, he probably won't have any shortage of job offers. And Nvidia’s competitors, I believe, still can’t believe their luck: their formidable rival took himself out of the game with his own hands. Elon Musk has already said that he would be “honored” to work with Huang at SpaceX.
However, it is important to remember that even if it turns out that Huang did not betray his company or his country, he still betrayed his wife of 41 years, Laurie Huang.
And for her, this is not a story about technology, temptation and trillion-dollar company valuations.
This is a deeply personal and painful story.
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