What's ahead for AI financing after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang departs

Investors sold shares in Chinese AI businesses on Friday, fearing that Nvidia's CEO, Jensen Huang, stepping down could deepen the technological divide between the world's two biggest economies. Chinese AI model stocks Z.ai and MiniMax Group plummeted due to concerns over limited access to cutting-edge AI chips, while data centre suppliers Zhongji Innolight and Eoptolink Technology, relying heavily on US markets, plummeted as well.

Domestic chip stocks rose, as investors hoped for self-reliance in technology, leaving major indexes Shanghai Composite Index and CSI300 Index relatively unchanged.

Wu Zhou, a fund manager, explained that the market feared Nvidia would cut sourcing from Chinese suppliers post-Huang's resignation. The US might also tighten restrictions on China's access to advanced chips, including renting offshore cloud computing power. This scenario would be detrimental to AI firms needing computing power but advantageous for indigenous AI chipmakers.

Nvidia CEO Huang resigned due to extramarital affairs, including one with a suspected Chinese spy. House Speaker Mike Johnson reported growing consensus in Congress to limit chip exports to China following the scandal. Chinese AI companies are attempting to rent Nvidia-powered computing capacity outside China, fearing stricter US export controls on advanced processors by the year's end.

Gavekal Dragonomics warned that the scandal, combined with a more AI-skeptical Congress, would make it harder for Chinese AI firms to access the advanced compute they require.

The biggest concern for China's AI industry is a tightening of US export controls on advanced chips and chip-making equipment by the end of the year, according to the think tank. Huang, the most vocal opponent of tight chip export controls to China, raised doubts about Chinese AI companies' ability to gain access to advanced computing power.

Chelsey Tam from Morningstar said if the US restricts Chinese access to US chips, all companies with large language model (LLM) businesses would be adversely affected. The US government is also considering a measure to ban imports of new Chinese optical transceivers, which could harm suppliers Innolight and Eoptolink, whose revenue predominantly comes from the US market.