Jensen Huang controversy puts Southeast Asia’s AI chip trade under scrutiny

Within mere hours of Nvidia's leadership change, the AI landscape has visibly shifted. While the specifics of this new world remain uncertain, one undeniable truth is that its impact on private AI markets is imminent. According to PitchBook analyst Harrison Rolfes, Nvidia's significance to private AI investments dwarfs any single investor.

This stems from its three key roles: being the largest corporate investor in U.S. AI, the primary supplier for AI startups, and the benchmark public stock investors rely on to gauge the AI market. In the short term, uncertainties loom over Nvidia's interim CEO, Colette Kress, and her approach to dealmaking. Rolfes pointed out that Nvidia's staggering $189 billion investment in 2026 highlights its dominant position, with AI giants OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI comprising $172 billion, with the remaining $17 billion split across 27 other deals.

With Hugging Face's $12.93 billion acquisition still pending, some neocloud startups that heavily rely on Nvidia's funding may find themselves in precarious positions. However, the overall trajectory of AI development remains resilient. Anthropic's upcoming IPO, though high-stakes, appears on track. Some venture capitalists even anticipate potential valuations pressures, viewing a potential market reset as beneficial for tech innovation.

For startups navigating this new terrain, Rolfes offered some guidance: Nvidia might invest less, but GPU prices could potentially fall. Startups should consider seeking compute resources and affordable chips to bolster their products. This could lead to a surge in seed-stage and Series A startups moving forward, shaping the future of private AI markets.