KALLEY HUANG, DON CLARK2026年11月11日公司治理专家担心，英伟达董事会已让公司变得过于依赖黄仁勋。 Mike Kai Chen for The New York TimesIn 1993, Sequoia Capital and Sutter Hill Ventures led a $2 million funding round for Nvidia, a start-up that made chips for video games. Mark A. Stevens, an investor at Sequoia, and Tench Coxe, an investor at Sutter Hill, then joined Nvidia’s board of directors. They watched the company struggle as it burned cash and its earliest products failed.1993年，为电子游戏制造芯片的初创公司英伟达获得一轮200万美元的融资，领投的是红杉资本和萨特希尔风投。随后，红杉投资人马克·A·史蒂文斯和萨特希尔投资人滕奇·考克斯加入了英伟达董事会。他们看着这家公司消耗大量资金，最初的产品遭遇失败，境况堪忧。“It wasn’t clear if Nvidia was ever going to, sort of, have escape velocity,” Mr. Stevens recalled on a podcast in 2023. “We were very concerned about, are we going to lose this company or not?”“当时并不清楚英伟达是否能在某种程度上达到逃逸速度，”史蒂文斯在2023年的一档播客中回忆道。“我们当时非常担心，我们会不会失去这家公司？”Three decades later, under the leadership of Jensen Huang, its co-founder and chief executive, Nvidia is one of the most valuable companies in the world. Its chips are an essential component of the giant artificial intelligence projects that are driving the U.S. economy.三十年后，在联合创始人兼首席执行官黄仁勋的领导下，英伟达已成为全球最有价值的公司之一。其芯片是推动美国经济发展的巨型人工智能项目不可或缺的组成部分。Now, Nvidia’s 10-member board of directors — a collection of early investors, longtime partners and other business executives — faces a daunting task: investigating their celebrity C.E.O. On Sunday, Mr. Huang admitted to an extramarital relationship with a businesswoman whom U.S. intelligence agencies have determined was a spy for China.如今，由10名成员组成的英伟达董事会——包括早期投资者、长期合作伙伴及其他商企高管——正面临一项艰巨任务：调查他们声名显赫的首席执行官。周日，黄仁勋承认与一名女商人存在婚外情，而美国情报机构已认定这名女商人是中国间谍。(China has rejected the espionage claims. Alice Huang, the Chinese executive accused of spying for Beijing, has not responded to requests for comment.)（中国已否认间谍指控。被控为北京做间谍的中国高管黄乐[音，其英文名为Alice Huang]尚未回应置评请求。）Nvidia’s board is coming into this investigation with a track record of both loyalty and deference to Mr. Huang, exposing them to criticism that they were unprepared for him to become the Silicon Valley company’s biggest vulnerability.这个将展开调查的董事会一贯对黄仁勋表现出忠诚和顺从，这使他们面临批评，因为他们对黄仁勋成为这家硅谷公司最大漏洞的状况毫无准备。“Substantial experience does not always translate to willingness to provide full oversight, especially if that long tenure has built strong connections to the C.E.O.,” said Allison Henry, a clinical assistant professor of management and organizations at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.“丰富的经验并不总能转化为提供全面监督的意愿，尤其是如果这种长期的任职已经建立起了与首席执行官的紧密联系，”西北大学凯洛格管理学院管理与组织学临床助理教授艾利森·亨利表示。Nvidia does not appear to even have a succession plan for Mr. Huang, and it does not have an obvious internal candidate to replace him. Mr. Huang, 63, said in 2023 that he believed he could run the company for three or four more decades.英伟达甚至似乎没有黄仁勋继任者的规划，并且也没有一个明显的内部候选人来取代他。63岁的黄仁勋在2023年曾表示，他相信自己还可以再管理这家公司三四十年。None of Nvidia’s board members responded to requests for comment on Monday, and a company spokesman declined to comment.周一，没有任何英伟达董事会成员对置评请求作出回应，一名公司发言人也拒绝置评。Setting up a succession plan for Mr. Huang was internally discussed over the years, former Nvidia executives said, but Mr. Huang resisted.前英伟达高管们表示，多年来公司内部曾讨论过为黄仁勋制定继任计划，但他表示抵制。“He didn’t like the idea,” said Rene Haas, the chief executive of the chip design company Arm Holdings, who worked at Nvidia from 2006 to 2013. He discussed Mr. Huang’s management style in a 2024 interview. “He felt it would create competition among executives and be divisive.”“他不喜欢这个想法，”芯片设计公司安谋首席执行官雷内·哈斯说，他曾在2006年至2013年间供职于英伟达。他在2024年的一次采访中谈及黄仁勋的管理风格时说。“他觉得这会在高管之间制造竞争，并导致分裂。”Many of Nvidia’s board members — with a combined 161 years of serving on the board — have a long history with Mr. Huang, who has shown that his big bets usually pay off for his company and the people backing him.许多英伟达董事会成员——他们在董事会的任期总计达161年——与黄仁勋有着深厚的渊源，而他也已经证明，那些巨大赌注通常能为公司和支持他的人带来回报。One of the first examples was Synopsys, a Silicon Valley company that supplied key software needed to design chips. Two former Synopsys leaders joined Nvidia’s board of directors in the 1990s: Harvey C. Jones, the software company’s onetime chief executive, and A. Brooke Seawell, its former chief financial officer. The Nvidia shares of the two former Synopsys executives were worth a combined $1.86 billion as of June.最早的例子之一是新思科技，这是一家提供芯片设计所需关键软件的硅谷公司。两名前新思科技的领导人在20世纪90年代加入了英伟达董事会：公司的前首席执行官哈维·C·琼斯，以及其前首席财务官A·布鲁克·西威尔。截至6月，这两名前新思科技高管持有的英伟达股票总价值达18.6亿美元。Mr. Huang is by far the largest individual shareholder in Nvidia with a 3.56 percent stake, making him one of the wealthiest people in the world.凭借3.56%的股份，黄仁勋是英伟达无可争议的最大个人股东，使他成为全球最富有的人之一。Among other individual shareholders, Mr. Stevens and Mr. Coxe, his early investors and board members, are second and third on the list. When Mr. Stevens last sold shares in the company, in September, his stake was worth $6.22 billion. When Mr. Coxe last gave away shares, in November, his stake was worth $5.62 billion.在其他个人股东中，他的早期投资者兼董事会成员史蒂文斯和考克斯分别位列第二和第三。史蒂文斯在9月份最近一次出售该公司股票时，股份价值为62.2亿美元。考克斯在11月份最近一次转让股份时，股份价值为56.2亿美元。The other board members are:其他董事会成员包括：• Dawn Hudson, the former chief marketing officer of the National Football League;·唐·哈德森，前NFL首席营销官；• Stephen C. Neal, the former chief executive of the law firm Cooley LLP;·斯蒂芬·C·尼尔，前科律律师事务所首席执行官；• John O. Dabiri, an engineering professor;·约翰·O·达比里，工程学教授；• Aarti Shah, the former chief information officer at the drugmaker Eli Lilly;·阿尔蒂·沙阿，前制药商礼来公司首席信息官；• Melissa B. Lora, the former president of Taco Bell;·梅丽莎·B·洛拉，前Taco Bell总裁；• Suzanne Nora Johnson, the former vice chairman of Goldman Sachs.·苏珊·诺拉·约翰逊，前高盛副董事长。Mr. Huang has viewed Nvidia’s board primarily as a governance requirement, rather than as an important part of the company’s strategy or execution, according to three former employees.据三名前员工称，黄仁勋主要将英伟达的董事会视为一项治理要求，而非公司战略或执行的重要组成部分。He has taken that same go-it-alone approach to building his executive team, emphasizing an anti-bureaucratic management philosophy designed to make big decisions quickly. He has more than 60 direct reports, putting him at the center of the company’s day-to-day operations, despite a hectic travel schedule that often takes him from California to Washington to Asia and back.在组建高管团队时，他也采取了同样的独立行事的方式，强调旨在快速做出重大决策的反官僚管理理念。他有60多名直接下属，这使他处于公司日常运营的中心，尽管他繁忙的旅行日程经常让他往返于加利福尼亚、华盛顿和亚洲之间。英伟达董事会在调查黄仁勋的行为时，可能会面临艰难的抉择。But Nvidia’s current predicament presents considerable challenges for a company so dependent on one man. Nvidia’s independent board members will choose an outside counsel to investigate. A company spokesman said that Mr. Huang would not be part of the selection process, but he will continue to lead Nvidia during the investigation.但英伟达目前的困境对一家如此依赖一个人的公司构成了巨大的挑战。英伟达的独立董事会成员将聘请外部法律顾问进行调查。一名公司发言人表示，黄仁勋不会参与这一选拔过程，但在调查期间他将继续领导英伟达。“The best way to weather this kind of storm in the world of public opinion is to have the C.E.O. or whoever is caught out apologize publicly and cede control at least temporarily to another party,” said Jo-Ellen Pozner, associate professor of management at Santa Clara University’s Leavey School of Business.“在公众舆论领域，度过这类风暴的最佳方式是让涉事首席执行官或其他相关人员公开道歉，并至少暂时将控制权让渡给第三方，”圣克拉拉大学利维商学院管理学副教授乔-艾伦·波兹纳说。Mr. Huang has also given his children substantial power and authority at Nvidia, according to five current and former employees.据五名现任及前任员工透露，黄仁勋在英伟达内部也赋予了他的子女巨大的权力和权威。His son, Spencer, is a director of product management and plays a leading role in Nvidia’s robotics efforts. His daughter, Madison, is a senior director of product marketing who also works on robotics, as well as communications and marketing. And his son-in-law, Nico Caprez, works on business development for the company. That has created the impression among some at the company that he is nurturing his children to eventually succeed him.他的儿子黄胜斌(Spencer)担任产品管理总监，在英伟达的机器人项目中发挥着主导作用。他的女儿黄敏珊(Madison)担任产品营销高级总监，同样涉足机器人业务以及企业传播和营销工作。而他的女婿尼科·卡普雷兹则负责公司的商业开发。这给一些员工留下一种印象：他正在培养他的子女，以便他们最终接替自己。In an interview last month, when asked whether Madison was in line to succeed him, Mr. Huang said: “I don’t wish the job on her.”在上个月的一次采访中，当被问及黄敏珊是否有望接替他时，黄仁勋说：“我不希望她接手这份工作。”“If the C.E.O. doesn’t do his job according to 12 or 15 board members, the C.E.O. is let go,” Mr. Huang said in January. But, he added, “there will never be one like me, and the reason for that is because I was raised by the company.”“如果首席执行官没有按照12或15名董事会成员的要求做好本职工作，首席执行官就会被解雇，”黄仁勋在1月份表示。但他补充道，“永远不会有像我这样的人，原因在于我是由这家公司抚养长大的。”It wouldn’t be easy to pick a manager inside Nvidia that could temporarily run the company, said Jeff Christian, chief executive of Christian & Timbers, an executive recruiting firm that frequently works with Silicon Valley companies.经常与硅谷企业合作的高管招聘公司Christian & Timbers首席执行官杰夫·克里斯蒂安表示，在英伟达内部挑选一名能够暂时管理公司的经理并非易事。Most current executives have responsibilities for specific products or technology areas, not broad responsibilities with thousands of people reporting to them. The question is, he said, is whether directors will at some point feel compelled to ask Mr. Huang to step aside.大多数现任高管仅负责特定的产品或技术领域，而非拥有数千人向其汇报的广泛职责。他说，问题在于董事们是否会在某一时刻感到不得不要求黄仁勋退居二线。“He’s such a big personality,” he said. “It’s almost like trying to fire the owner.”“他是一个个性如此鲜明的大人物，”他说。“这简直就像是试图解雇东家一样。”Tripp Mickle对本文有报道贡献。Kalley Huang是时报驻旧金山记者，报道苹果公司和科技业新闻。翻译：经雷点击查看本文英文版。获取更多RSS：https://feedx.net https://feedx.site