Dan Ives expects Jensen Huang to keep running Nvidia as its board investigates reports that a foreign intelligence operation targeted the co-founder.
The risk for shareholders, the broker said, is that nobody else on Nvidia’s management team could readily take his place.
Ives kept his Outperform rating and $300 price target. He said the modest fall in Nvidia shares suggested investors still expected Huang to stay, while allowing for a small chance that he steps aside or the board removes him.
“Jensen is the core DNA of Nvidia and its AI success and ambitions are heavily tied to him staying on as CEO,” he wrote.
Nvidia’s board expressed confidence in Huang on Sunday and said it had no reason to believe the reported intelligence effort had compromised US national security or company secrets.
Independent directors will oversee the inquiry with outside counsel. Huang has pledged to cooperate.
Ives expects the political fallout to extend beyond the boardroom.
He sees multiple congressional inquiries ahead, with lawmakers likely to revisit restrictions on which chips Nvidia can sell to China.
