Nvidia Partners Tell Customers ‘Not To Fear’ In Wake Of Jensen Huang’s Exit

Some Nvidia channel partners have seen the need to address security concerns by customers in wake of Jensen Huang’s disclosed relationship with an alleged Chinese spy or tell customers ‘not to fear’ about Nvidia’s status as a top provider of AI infrastructure gear.

Nvidia channel partners said they do not expect CEO Jensen Huang’s resignation to deter what they are calling robust demand for AI solutions fueled by the company’s GPUs.

Some, however, have seen the need to address security concerns by customers in wake of Huang’s disclosed relationship with an alleged Chinese spy or tell customers “not to fear” about Nvidia’s status as a top provider of AI infrastructure gear.

The CTO of one U.S.-based Nvidia partner told CRN that his company plans to take an “offensive approach” with its Nvidia customer base in case Huang’s resignation, announced Thursday, causes a crisis in confidence.

“We’re going to let our joint Nvidia-Cisco customers know that Jensen’s departure does not mean an immediate drop in distribution or supply chain. It [doesn’t] mean a drop in our services or that innovation is going away now,” said the CTO, who asked to not be named to speak candidly about the situation.

Partners are reacting to what has been a dramatic turn of events in a brief amount of time. Over the past two weeks, a steady stream of news stories cited concerns by U.S. intelligence officials about Huang’s close relationship with a tech executive believed to be a Chinese spy. Nvidia’s board on Sunday said it would investigate the matter.

As more details came out about the alleged Chinese spy’s actions as an executive for a Singapore-based company, which is under U.S. investigation for giving China access to Nvidia GPUs, a New York Times report on Wednesday said that Huang was having a second extramarital affair with a direct report.

Nvidia’s board initially said that it would stand by Huang when it announced the investigation. By Thursday, however, the company announced Huang’s resignation and appointed CFO Colette Kress as interim leader.

The CTO of the Nvidia partner said his company plans to contact some of its larger Nvidia enterprise customers today to hopefully ease any fears regarding Nvidia's CEO exit.

“As partners, our job right now is to reassure our customers that this doesn't mean it’s the end of Nvidia or that our offerings are going to be disrupted,” he said. “Yes, everyone will be shocked, but it isn’t the end of Nvidia chips or the AI boom or Nvidia's ability to generate sales.”

The CTO called Huang’s resignation “the biggest and craziest CEO exit I’ve witnessed in my 30-plus-year technology career,” noting that he did a lot for the channel.

“Partners loved Jensen for everything he was doing for Nvidia's growth and making partners like us more profitable and more critical to our customers,” he said.

Partner Tells Largest Customers Nvidia Solutions ‘Still In Business’

A senior director of partner alliances for a second U.S. based-Nvidia partner said his company, a global solution provider, is also taking a proactive approach and letting its largest customers know that Nvidia hardware and services are “still in business.”

“Today, it’s about telling clients not to fear about their Nvidia environment. We are still 'business as usual' for our clients. 'Nothing is going away or changing' will be the message,” said the senior director, who also asked to remain anonymous.

The senior director called Huang’s exit a “punch to the gut.”

“I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Huang several times in person. He’s the face of the company, really. He made Nvidia a household name,” he said. “With him no longer helming the ship, if you will, a lot of things are up in the air right now.”

The partner alliances director did say, however, that Kress, the Nvidia CFO who is now the company’s interim CEO, knows the vendor’s business as good as any other leader.

“She’s a very safe pick for sure. Probably the right person for now,” he said. “She’s been in charge of the [financial] numbers for a long time, but also knows the business and customers really, really well.”

When Kress joined in 2013, Nvidia's ⁠revenue was $4.1 billion in that fiscal year. The company has grown a massive 5,130 percent since to $216 billion in fiscal 2026, which covered sales from most of last year through late January.

Partner Sees Security Concerns As Blip Amid Robust AI Demand

One Nvidia partner that has seen security concerns from customers due to the Chinese espionage allegations involving Huang is Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Future Tech Enterprise, No. 90 on CRN’s 2026 Solution Provider 500.

The solution provider’s CEO, Bob Venero, would like to see Nvidia reassure customers that its “secure supply chain” is not at risk.

“Customers want to know if there is anything from a cybersecurity perspective that could put them at risk,” he said. “I don’t believe that is the case. But when you say 'China,' people are going to ask about it.”

Nevertheless, Venero said he doesn’t expect the episode to hurt AI demand.

“AI, at its core, is driving business outcomes for organizations regardless of who is running the company,” he said. “This doesn’t change that. If you are a global enterprise organization, you need to invest in AI and the business outcomes that come from that.”

While Huang has been the face of Nvidia since its founding in 1993, Venero said there are “so many incredibly smart people” at the AI infrastructure giant that can take the torch and continue to carry it forward so there is not a “major impact on the industry and people don’t lose faith in the technology.”

“It’s not what Jensen means to the channel; it is what Nvidia means to the channel,” he said. “That doesn’t change.”

Venero pointed out that when legendary Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs passed away in 2011, many questioned whether Apple would continue to thrive.

“Look at what happened with Apple from a growth perspective after Tim Cook took over the company,” he said. “Now you have got the same situation at Nvidia where you need to find the right successor that is going to continue the momentum that Nvidia had and continue to drive innovation in the AI ecosystem.”

Venero said although Huang made “poor life choices,” he is still the father of AI. “Jensen was a visionary,” he said. “It is just so sad that the legacy that he created is now tainted based on some poor personal decisions he made.”

Partners: AI Solutions Momentum Is ‘A Lot Bigger’ Than Any One Person

C.R. Howdyshell, CEO of Independence, Ohio-based Advizex, a Myriad360 company that previously won an Nvidia Partner Network award, agreed with Venero that the AI solutions momentum is “a lot bigger” than any one person.

“These are transformational times,” said Howdyshell of the business outcomes being driven by AI. “There is too much behind this technology to change that. Nvidia has 42,000 employees with strong leadership that will carry on. With $1 trillion in orders for Blackwell and Vera Rubin [products forecast through 2027], it certainly does not appear demand is going to slow down for the foreseeable future.”

Howdyshell said Myriad360 and Advizex, for their part, do not see any AI slowdown.

“We are seeing strong AI solutions demand with a growing pipeline,” he said. “This technology is something we haven’t seen and will likely never see again in our lifetime.”

Erik Krucker, CTO of Ramsey, N.J.-based AI infrastructure solution provider Comport Consulting, said given the Nvidia GPU backlog and the company’s sales pipeline, he does not expect any impact on the company for the next several years.

“The pipeline is there. That is money in the bank,” said the executive. “I don’t think you are going to see any changes in the next 18 to 24 months as far as what customers are buying.

“The old Nvidia chips out there are still valuable. Customers are going to continue to invest in AI infrastructure,” he added.

Patrick Shelley, CTO of Montvale, N.J.-based PKA Technologies, said he also does not expect Huang’s resignation to put a damper on the demand for AI solutions.

“There is too much excitement around AI solutions for this to cause a pause in the market,” he said. “This does not change that. It is unstoppable. I don’t think it will have any effect on our customers and the appetite they have for AI solutions.”

PKA Technologies has a wide spectrum of AI customers, from those just getting started to customers that have built out complex 24x7 a agentic AI operations with “tremendous [return on investment],” said Shelley.

“We are at a point where businesses can benefit tremendously from implementing some sort of AI,” he said. “It is streamlining processes and making companies more efficient and even generating revenue for some companies.”

Partner Hopes New Leadership Will Build Upon Huang’s Vision

A top executive at a U.S. Nvidia systems integration partner said he sees Huang’s abrupt departure as a “major inflection point” because of how important the now-former CEO’s vision for AI factories and physical AI was to its extraordinary success.

“I'm more concerned about what's going to happen in the aftermath. Who would take the reins? This is a man who had an entire vision of what he wanted that company to be, and it became the largest corporation in the world,” said the systems integrator executive, who asked that he not be named to speak candidly.

Huang’s resignation has the executive concerned about whether Nvidia will lose some of its influence over the massive customer base it has built.

“[For] companies that are solely attached to the vision of Jensen Huang, what's going to happen to them if they no longer believe in the vision of the company?” he said.

The systems integrator executive is hoping that Huang’s successor and the rest of the leadership team hold onto the now-former CEO’s vision and build upon it.

“I pray for the sake of all of its employees that have attached themselves to a vision that is still correct. There's nothing wrong with Jensen's vision. I hope personally that people understand that. That's the biggest thing for me,” he said.