CThe biggest story in tech this morning isn't a product launch. It's a resignation.
MJensen Huang is out at Nvidia. The board announced it late Wednesday.
CThe man who built Nvidia into the most valuable company on Earth. Gone.
MThe Verge is reporting two extramarital affairs. One with a woman suspected of spying for China.
CA suspected spy? That's not a scandal. That's a national security problem.
MThe other was reportedly with Kimberly Powell, an Nvidia vice president who reported directly to him.
CSo the CEO was having an affair with a direct report. That's a governance failure, full stop.
MNvidia named an interim CEO and says it's searching for a permanent one. The CFO, Colette Kress, is reportedly favored by some board members.
CKress is a solid choice. She's been there forever, knows the numbers cold.
MBut here's what I keep thinking about. Nvidia's entire AI dominance was built on Huang's vision.
CHe saw the AI wave coming a decade before everyone else. That's not something you replace with a search firm.
MThe stock is going to be a mess today. Investors hate uncertainty, and this is maximum uncertainty.
CBut the company itself? The chips, the software, the roadmap? That's a machine that runs without him now.
MMaybe. But when the founder leaves under a cloud like this, culture changes. And Nvidia's culture was Huang.
CCome on, that's too simple. Great companies survive their founders. Apple survived Jobs. Microsoft survived Gates.
MApple almost died without Jobs. Microsoft floundered for a decade under Ballmer.
CFair. But Nvidia isn't a consumer products company. It's an infrastructure monopoly. The moat is the CUDA software ecosystem, not one guy.
MThe moat is real. But the strategic bets—who to partner with, what to build next—that was Huang.
CAnd now he's gone, reportedly over his personal life. That's the part that makes me angry.
MA suspected Chinese spy in the middle of the AI arms race. That's not just personal. That's a security clearance nightmare.
CIf that report is true, every government contract Nvidia has is now under review. Every single one.
MThe board moved fast. Late Wednesday meeting, announcement Thursday morning. They're trying to contain it.
CContain it? I'd expect the stock to open down ten percent. Maybe more.
MI think that's an overreaction. The fundamentals haven't changed. The AI buildout is still happening.
CThe fundamentals just lost their architect. That matters.
MWe'll see. But this is the biggest tech story of the year, and it's not even close.
CSpeaking of big tech shakeups, there's a wild prediction making the rounds on X.
MOh, this one's good. An account called Panke is doubling down on a prediction.
CHe says Apple is going to partner with SpaceX for the Siri AI rollout. And Grok becomes the brain.
MGrok? Apple's Siri powered by Elon's AI? That's a take.
CHe says it's the most obvious match in tech. Bookmark it, he says.
MLet me be clear: there is no such deal. No announcement, no reporting, nothing. This is pure speculation.
CBut it's not crazy. Apple needs better AI. Grok needs distribution. Apple has a massive installed base.
MApple would never hand Siri to a competitor. They've spent years building their own AI stack.
CTheir own AI stack is behind. Everyone knows it. Siri is the punchline of every AI comparison.
MSo they'd partner with the guy who's suing them? Musk and Apple have a long, messy history.
CMusk did say he was 'down' for the idea when a user suggested it back in November. That's not nothing.
MMusk says he's down for a lot of things. That's not a partnership. That's a tweet.
CFair point. But the reply from Chris Andrews is interesting. He says Elon will make a phone in less than five years.
MA Tesla phone? That rumor has been around for years. I'll believe it when I see it.
CIf anyone could do it, it's him. He's got the chip design, the software, the manufacturing.
MHe's also got a car company, a rocket company, a brain implant company, and a social network. Maybe focus?
CFocus is for people who don't want to colonize Mars.
MAnyway, the Apple-SpaceX thing is a fun rumor, but it's not real. Not yet.
CDifferent world entirely: Google is making a serious play in smart glasses.
MThe Verge has a hands-on with Google's new AI glasses. They say Meta finally has real competition.
CThat's a big claim. Meta has owned this space for years. Ray-Ban Metas are everywhere.
MBut Google is partnering with Warby Parker and Gentle Monster. Real eyewear brands, not tech companies.
CThat's smart. People want glasses that look like glasses, not a prop from a sci-fi movie.
MThe Verge mentions the 'pervert glasses' problem. Meta's privacy reputation has been a drag.
CGoogle has its own privacy baggage. Remember Google Glass? The backlash was brutal.
MBut that was a decade ago. The tech is way better now. AI assistants in your field of view, real-time translation.
CI'm skeptical. Smart glasses are still a solution looking for a problem. My phone does all of that.
MUntil you're riding a bike and need directions. Or cooking and need a recipe. Hands-free matters.
CHands-free matters when the glasses are good enough to replace the phone. We're not there yet.
MBut competition is good. Meta has been coasting. Google pushing them means better products for everyone.
CI'll give you that. A two-horse race is better than a monopoly.
MAnd speaking of things that are down, Lego's BrickLink marketplace has been offline for a week.
CA week? That's a long time for an e-commerce site to be down.
MThe Verge reports it's due to "unusual activity." Lego bought BrickLink in 2019.
CUnusual activity is code for either a hack or a security breach. They're not saying which.
MBrickLink is where serious Lego fans buy and sell individual parts. It's a big deal in that community.
CA week offline means sellers are losing real money. Some of those people run full-time businesses on there.
MLego says they don't know when it'll be back. That's not reassuring.
CIf it's a ransomware attack, they're probably negotiating. That takes time.
MOr they're rebuilding the whole thing from scratch. Either way, a week is a long time in e-commerce.
CThe Lego community is intense. They're probably losing their minds on Reddit right now.
MI'd love to see those threads. 'My Millennium Falcon is missing three pieces and I can't order them.'
CFirst world problems, but real problems.
MThat's the show for this hour. Big news on Nvidia, a wild Apple rumor, and Google's glasses push.
CWe'll be watching the Nvidia story all day. That one's going to move markets.