A few bouquets and candles outside NVIDIA's California headquarters caught the attention of passers-by after Jensen Huang's departure from the company. The items had been left near the chipmaker's Santa Clara office, giving the entrance an appearance more commonly associated with a memorial than a technology company's headquarters.
The tributes appeared after news broke on November 12 that Huang was leaving the company he co-founded in 1993. Photographs of the flowers and candles soon began circulating online. The display did not remain there for long, however.
According to a report by South Korea's Seoul Economic Daily, the items had been cleared by the following day. Security guards were also reportedly seen restricting reporters' access to parts of the premises. NVIDIA has not publicly explained why the flowers were removed.
Huang spent more than three decades building NVIDIA into a major force in the semiconductor industry. Under his leadership, the company became a key supplier of processors used to train and run artificial intelligence systems.
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His departure has attracted attention beyond the technology sector. Reports about his alleged relationship with a Chinese businesswoman suspected by US authorities of having links to Beijing's intelligence operations have added to the scrutiny surrounding the leadership change. These remain allegations and should not be treated as established wrongdoing by Huang.
NVIDIA has appointed CFO Colette Kress as interim CEO while its board considers candidates for a permanent replacement.
The photographs of flowers and candles prompted mixed reactions online. Some users viewed the display as a farewell gesture for a leader who had become closely associated with NVIDIA. Others joked about the unusual sight of what looked like a memorial outside the headquarters of a company still at the centre of the AI boom.
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The removal of the items has raised further questions, although there is no confirmed explanation from NVIDIA. For now, the company is dealing with a leadership transition that few would have expected to unfold this way. Huang's exit leaves NVIDIA with the task of finding someone who can take over a business he helped shape for more than 30 years.