Taiwan market rights itself but chipmakers wary of life after Huang

TAIPEI (TVBS News) — Taiwan's stock market recovered nearly 1,400 points on Friday (Nov. 13) — not because investors believe Jensen Huang didn't matter, but because strong quarterly earnings reminded them that Taiwan's AI supply chain might outlast the man who championed it. Yet some executives who revered Huang are quietly worried his successor may lack his aggressive vision.

The Taiex had plunged more than 1,100 points a day earlier after Nvidia's board discovered the Tainan-born CEO had a second extramarital relationship — this one with an Nvidia employee — days after he admitted an affair with a woman U.S. intelligence suspects of spying for China.

The index opened up 627.88 points at 43,719.75 on Friday and climbed as high as 44,489.48. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) opened up NT$35 (around US$1.06) at NT$2,375 (around US$71.95) and reached as high as NT$2,390 (around US$72.40). MediaTek (聯發科) opened at its daily limit-up price of NT$4,235 (around US$128.30).

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. (鴻海精密, Foxconn), a major Nvidia server supplier, opened up NT$4 at NT$244 (around US$7.39) but turned negative by midday, falling to NT$238.5 (around US$7.23), the only major AI stock that couldn't sustain its early gains.

Yet behind the rally, some suppliers are bracing for uncertainty.

Huang has maintained deep ties with Taiwan's chip industry, strengthening relationships with key partners including TSMC, Hon Hai, and Wistron Corp. (緯創). He had pledged roughly US$150 billion annually in Taiwan investment. "We will support whatever capacity Nvidia needs, but the new CEO may not be as aggressive as Jensen," an executive at a Taiwanese supplier told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.

TF International Securities analyst Kuo Ming-chi (郭明錤) said Huang's leadership style was central to Nvidia's supply chain strategy. Huang's ability to translate engineering possibilities into company-wide commitments gave suppliers strong order visibility and motivated them to keep pace with aggressive specification upgrades, Kuo told Reuters.

Still, some analysts argue the fundamentals remain intact. Huang Kuo-wei (黃國偉), deputy general manager at Mega International Investment Services (兆豐國際投顧), said Huang's resignation has "completely no impact" on Taiwan suppliers. "Taiwan's AI supply chain remains irreplaceable," he told CNA.

Taishin Investment Advisory (台新投顧) noted that regardless of which company designs AI chips, production still depends on wafer foundry and advanced packaging capacity, though a leadership change could slow the pace of specification upgrades that have driven supply chain valuations higher.

Kress Takes Helm as Board Seeks Permanent Successor

Chief financial officer Colette Kress is serving as interim CEO while the board searches for a permanent successor. The board also appointed Harvey C. Jones, a longtime director and former Synopsys CEO, as Nvidia's first-ever chair. "The Board has full confidence in Colette and the leadership team, and we expect the company's operations, customer commitments and product roadmap to continue without interruption," Jones said in a statement.

"I think that her duty right now is to stabilize the company. This company is in really rough waters," Wall Street Journal reporter Robbie Whelan told CNN. Whelan reported that Kress had clashed with Huang over Nvidia's expansion strategy, with Kress advocating a more cautious approach and Huang once calling her "a deer in the headlights" for not moving fast enough.

Analysts and investors see two candidates as particularly likely for the permanent role: Kress and Ian Buck, who leads Nvidia's accelerated computing division. For Taiwan suppliers, they see limited immediate impact but longer-term uncertainty.

Omdia chief analyst Lian Jye Su (蘇連傑) said Huang's exit "might shift Nvidia's long-term direction," and any slowdown in execution "could give rivals more room to catch up." The real risk, Taishin said, lies in whether U.S. export control policies tighten further, with markets watching whether Congress pushes stricter chip controls on China.

The leadership transition comes at a sensitive moment: the APEC summit in Shenzhen next week is expected to bring together Trump, Chinese leader Xi Jinping, and Russian leader Vladimir Putin. The Busan Agreement, the U.S.-China trade truce reached in October 2025, is set to expire in January. For Taiwan's chip industry, the summit's outcome could matter more than who leads Nvidia. "This could not come at a worse time for bilateral agreements and trade agreements between China and the U.S.," CNN correspondent Gage Goulding reported from Seoul.

Whether Taiwan's AI supply chain can outlast the champion who built it may depend less on Nvidia's next CEO than on what Washington decides about chips and China. Nvidia is scheduled to report third-quarter earnings on Tuesday (Nov. 17). ◼