'Jensen is a god': How Nvidia's 'cult of Huang' took hold and what comes next

The abrupt resignation of Nvidia’s CEO has laid bare the company’s internal politics and corporate governance, the Financial Times reports in an in-depth account titled “Jensen Huang’s final days at Nvidia.” People close to Nvidia told the paper that the founder wielded almost imperial authority over the company and was difficult to challenge.

“Jensen was the supreme deity of Nvidia,” one investor in the company said. “I have no idea who the next most capable person is at the company. If they go for an outsider, that creates a rift.”

Huang ran Nvidia as a “feudal system” with its own tangled dynastic politics, one source told the FT. The founder appointed his daughter, Madison Huang, who joined the company as an intern around six years ago, and her husband, Nico Caprez, to positions of influence. Huang’s son Spencer also holds an executive role.

Several current and former Nvidia employees described Huang’s daughter as difficult to work with. She rankled colleagues by acting as her father’s de facto chief of staff, though her official title was senior director of marketing. “The level of hubris, sense of invincibility, and untouchable vibes shared by Jensen, his family and some executives” made working at the company “intolerable,” one employee said.

Despite the turmoil at Nvidia and the plunge in its shares, some employees see a chance to reset the company’s culture and put in place governance structures better suited to a company of its size, the FT reports.

Huang had 60 direct reports, giving him enormous influence over every decision at Nvidia and leaving no one in a position to challenge him, the FT notes.

“I can’t tell you what a cult this place is,” said a person who has worked with Nvidia. The person pointed to general counsel Tim Teter’s leather jacket, which echoes Huang’s signature look. “Jensen is a god, and that’s how he’s worshipped,” the person added.

“Jensen’s been CEO for 30 years. There were many people that came up with him and got wealthy and so were very loyal. But then they all started to retire,” another person told the FT.

“Now this has all come out – and there’s more to come – it reminds me of [the nursery rhyme]: ‘All the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty together again’,” the person said.

Huang initially appeared to expect to keep his job even after admitting he had had an affair with a woman suspected of being a Chinese spy. A day after Nvidia launched an internal investigation, Huang surprised employees by calling them into a planning meeting for his annual keynote in Washington. “It’s gonna be great... it’s going to be the best one ever,” he told the team, according to people familiar with the meeting.

The FT describes the meeting as a characteristically upbeat effort to project an air of “business as usual” by a CEO fighting to save himself, his family, and the company that until recently was the world’s most valuable. One colleague described the experience as “surreal,” the paper reports.

In private, however, Huang grew despondent as he faced the prospect of losing his job and leaving the company he founded in disgrace, the FT reports. Some of its sources said he openly wondered in conversations with colleagues whether his relationship with his wife might now matter more than staying on as CEO.

Nvidia declined to comment. Jensen Huang and representatives for his family did not respond to the FT’s request for comment.