Nvidia Slides Below $4 Trillion Mark as Jensen Huang Resignation Erases $1 Trillion

Nvidia shares plummeted as much as 14% during volatile Wall Street trading on Thursday before clawing back ground to close down 4.3% at $166.19. The trigger was immediate. Co-founder and chief executive Jensen Huang resigned without warning, shaking market faith in the undisputed anchor of the global artificial intelligence boom.

Panic met liquidity at the opening bell. Thursday's selloff shaved nearly $500 billion off Nvidia's valuation in less than a week, dragging the company's total market capitalization below the $4 trillion threshold for the first time since July 2025. Over the past thirty days, the damage exceeds $1 trillion. The stock now sits roughly 30% beneath its all-time peak touched on October 6, delivering a stark reversal for a Silicon Valley titan that briefly commanded a valuation north of $5 trillion following a four-year, 1,700% equity surge.

The $1 Trillion Evaporation and Huang's Wealth Slide

The boardroom exit carries severe personal stakes. Huang, who held court for years among the world's ten richest people, watched his personal ledger shrink in tandem with the share price. Forbes Real-Time Billionaires data recorded Huang slipping from eighth to tenth place early in the week, before tumbling entirely out of the top ten to thirteenth position as selling intensified.

The departure unfolded against escalating public scrutiny. US President Donald Trump addressed swirling controversies, remarking that he was unsure whether a woman linked to Huang was a foreign intelligence operative amid wider circulating allegations surrounding the former executive's personal conduct.

Market Context: Nvidia graphics processing units (GPUs) serve as the fundamental compute foundation for hyperscale data centers and frontier AI models globally. Huang's departure removes the central strategist who turned specialised graphics silicon into Wall Street's most influential market engine.

Collateral Damage Across the Ecosystem

The selling ripped through suppliers, data center operators, and specialized cloud platforms tied to Nvidia's hardware allocation. CoreWeave tumbled 8.1%. Server manufacturer Super Micro Computer slumped 12%. Nebius suffered a severe 18% blow after management slashed its 2026 revenue guidance, citing operational holdups in securing third-party compute capacity.

But rival chipmakers seized the rotation. Investors quickly reassessed whether executive chaos in Santa Clara would fracture Nvidia's near-monopoly on high-end accelerator silicon. Advanced Micro Devices gained over 4%. Broadcom advanced by an identical margin above 4%, drawing capital from institutional desks hunting for alternative exposure.

Macro Headwinds and the Earnings Gauntlet

The tech shakeout spilled across broader benchmarks during a tense macroeconomic session. The Nasdaq Composite stumbled 1.6% at its lows before trimming losses to finish 0.4% lower at 25,366.09. The S&P 500 shed 0.4% to close at 7,592.40, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 189.40 points, or 0.4%, to end at 52,297.09. Geopolitical friction added further drag—Brent crude climbed 3.3% to $95.82 a barrel after President Trump issued pointed warnings regarding Iran.

Nvidia now approaches its most critical operational test in years. The company is scheduled to report quarterly financial earnings next week, where management must defend its data center revenue run-rate, clarify supply roadmaps, and reassure institutional shareholders that governance turmoil has not compromised its hardware dominance.