Asian Shares Mixed as Nvidia Fallout Clouds Global AI Outlook

HONG KONG – Asian markets delivered a mixed performance Friday as investors weighed what Jensen Huang’s resignation as Nvidia’s chief executive could mean for the future of the global artificial intelligence industry.

U.S. stock futures moved modestly higher after Wall Street’s earlier retreat. Nvidia shares had fallen more than 4% following news of Huang’s departure.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 advanced 0.8% to 61,283.16. Tokyo Electron, a major chip-equipment manufacturer, gained 1.5%, while memory-chip producer Kioxia Holdings fell 2.5%. SoftBank Group, an investor in OpenAI, declined 5.2%.

South Korea’s Kospi slipped 0.5% to 5,317.05. Samsung Electronics, among the country’s most valuable companies, lost 0.7%, while memory-chip maker SK Hynix dropped 2%.

Taiwan’s Taiex climbed 1.7%, helped by a 0.9% increase in shares of TSMC, or Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the island’s leading chipmaker.

Huang co-founded Nvidia and played a central role in shaping its AI strategy, as well as the broader surge in artificial intelligence. His resignation has prompted fresh questions about how the leadership change could affect the technology’s development. Huang had become Nvidia’s public face and, in the view of some industry observers, had grown into a figure larger than the company itself.

The resignation was announced Thursday after his affair raised concerns over U.S. national security. Nvidia’s longtime chief financial officer, Colette Kress, is taking over as interim CEO.

Across Asia, many AI hardware stocks have become closely tied to the pace of artificial intelligence infrastructure investment in the United States.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.9% to 23,786.48, while the Shanghai Composite edged 0.2% higher to 3,663.71.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.7% to 9,084.80.

India’s Sensex was down 0.2%.

In the United States, the S&P 500 fell 0.4% Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also lost 0.4%, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite declined by the same amount.

Some Nvidia competitors moved higher. Shares of AMD, or Advanced Micro Devices, rose 5.9%.

Markets also faced pressure from rising oil prices after U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that the United States did not “need a deal with Iran” as the conflict in the Middle East continued.

“We don’t need a deal with Iran,” Trump wrote on social media. “Those days have long since passed. We’ve got their money, Hundreds of Billions of Dollars, and we’ve got their Strait!”

Oil prices steadied early Friday. Brent crude, the international benchmark, edged down 0.1% to $95.70 a barrel, compared with roughly $72 a barrel in late February before the Iran war began.

U.S. benchmark crude fell 0.4% to $88.41 a barrel.

The U.S. dollar rose to 159.91 Japanese yen from 159.84 yen. The euro traded at $1.1059, up from $1.1055.

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AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed to this report.