Nvidia’s chip-financing guarantees draw scrutiny after Huang’s exit
The Decoder, citing The Wall Street Journal, reports that Nvidia used financial guarantees to help AI cloud providers and data-center developers purchase its chips. The largest proposed arrangement involved a $250 billion guarantee for an OpenAI data center in Ohio, but interim CEO Colette Kress reduced Nvidia’s commitment by half before a scaled-back agreement was signed in August. The report also says Huang’s departure may have been driven more by Nvidia’s business practices than by his personal affairs, but his exact circumstances remain unclear.
Nvidia’s financing program placed substantial guarantees behind AI-chip purchases, making the company’s exposure to AI infrastructure spending a major issue alongside its leadership transition.
Jensen Huang's ouster likely traces back to Nvidia's risky business practices more than his personal life
Matthias Bastian View the LinkedIn Profile of Matthias Bastian
Nov 13, 2026
GPT-Image-2.6 prompted by THE DECODER
Key Points
- Nvidia built a risky credit program under Jensen Huang that offered AI cloud providers billions of dollars in guarantees to help them buy Nvidia chips, with Huang’s son-in-law Nico Caprez pushing it forward, the Wall Street Journal reports.
- The largest deal involved talks with OpenAI over a $250 billion guarantee. Interim CEO and former CFO Colette Kress cut the commitment in half after raising internal questions about how the guarantees were valued.
- Huang reportedly called Kress "a deer in the headlights" at an internal meeting.