Nvidia Falls 24% in Two Weeks as AMD and Broadcom Gain on CEO Exit

Nvidia shares have fallen 24.39% in roughly two weeks, closing at $162.85 on the New York Stock Exchange on Nov. 13, as rival chipmakers AMD and Broadcom gained 30% and 24% respectively during the same period.

The divergence follows CEO Jensen Huang's abrupt resignation on Nov. 12, announced days after he acknowledged an extramarital affair and the company's board opened an independent investigation. Nvidia named Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress as interim CEO.

Moon Joon-ho, senior analyst at Samsung Securities (016360.KS), said in a technology sector update released Nov. 13 that Nvidia's leadership gap could open new opportunities for its competitors.

"Unless any negative news at Nvidia triggers a correction in AI demand, the main alternatives are ultimately AMD GPUs and Google TPUs," Moon said.

What triggered the slide?

The New York Times reported on Oct. 29 that Huang had an inappropriate relationship with a woman suspected of ties to Chinese intelligence. Huang acknowledged the affair on Nov. 8, and Nvidia's board launched an independent investigation. The resignation followed on Nov. 12.

The share price tells the timeline. Nvidia traded at $215.38 on Oct. 28, the day before the first report. It slid to $186.64 on Nov. 6 and to $162.85 on Nov. 13. On the day Huang's resignation was announced, the stock fell as low as $148.80 during the session before closing at $162.85, down 2.01% from the previous close.

Korean investors in Nvidia-linked products absorbed the losses too. According to Koscom's ETF CHECK, all seven Nvidia-related exchange-traded funds listed in South Korea declined between Oct. 28 and Nov. 13, with losses reaching 18.76%.

How much does the exit hurt Nvidia's earnings?

Analysts expect the near-term effect on profits to be limited. Moon said Nvidia has already entered the Rubin cycle and secured supply from the related supply chain, making unexpected variables at the earnings announcement on Nov. 17 unlikely.

"Jensen Huang's resignation will not have a major near-term effect on Nvidia's profits," Moon said.

The medium- to long-term picture carries more risk. Nvidia faces questions over possible violations of U.S. restrictions on chip exports to China. Direct exports to China have fallen sharply, but allegations of indirect shipments through other parts of Asia have persisted.

"An investigation into the suspected export control violations is under way, and calls for tighter export restrictions are being raised again," Moon said.

Huang's absence compounds the uncertainty. As a co-founder, he identified the AI industry's growth potential well before the arrival of ChatGPT, then broadened Nvidia's reach through rack system design — an integrated solution — and investment across the related supply chain.

"This temporary leadership vacuum is why the situation recalls the period when Steve Jobs left Apple," Moon said.

Who gains in South Korea's supply chain?

A wider footprint for Nvidia's competitors could shift flows through Korea's semiconductor supply chain, though the analyst cautioned against simple winners-and-losers framing.

"In South Korea, it is rare to find supply chains exposed to only Nvidia or only its competitors, which makes it difficult to separate winners from losers," Moon said. "Based on past cases, Samsung Electronics with high-bandwidth memory and Isu Petasys with TPU substrates had greater exposure to Nvidia's competitors."

Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) supplies high-bandwidth memory, or HBM, while Isu Petasys produces substrates used in Google's tensor processing units, or TPUs. Their established positions in rival supply chains work in their favor.

"Having joined the supply chains of Nvidia's competitors through a long record of supply is a differentiating factor," Moon added.

For now, the market's verdict is split along a clean line: Nvidia down, its rivals up, and Korea's component makers waiting on the Nov. 17 earnings report.