经济学人：黄仁勋辞职后，一场危机正在上演

作者： 经济学人      来源：一天一篇外刊

TWO OF THE world’s most valuable companies have changed bosses in recent months. They could hardly have done so more differently. At Apple, Tim Cook made way for John Ternus in September under what the iPhone-maker called a “long-term succession plan”. Nvidia’s succession plan lasted four days. Jensen Huang, the chip giant’s only boss in its 33-year history, never intended to leave. On November 8th he confessed to an affair; on November 12th, after further revelations about his private life, he resigned.

最近，全球两家市值最高的企业先后换帅，但交接过程却判若云泥。9月，苹果完成人事更迭。据iPhone披露，这是一套酝酿已久的长期接班方案：蒂姆・库克卸任，约翰・特努斯接棒。英伟达的这场 “接班”，事发突然，前后不过四天。黄仁勋执掌英伟达整整 33 年，自公司创立起便是唯一一把手，原本并无退意。11月8日，他公开承认存在婚外情；11月12日，更多私生活细节被曝出后，他递交了辞呈。

The job has fallen, for now, to Colette Kress, Nvidia’s finance chief since 2013, who has been named interim chief executive. She was never coached for the top job, and will need to learn fast. Since news of the scandal broke Nvidia’s shares have lost about 20% of their value (see chart). Besides calming investors, she will need to shore up suppliers, mend fences with Washington and hold together the vast web of financing schemes and partnerships that has fuelled Nvidia’s breakneck growth.

眼下这份重担暂时交到科莱特・克雷斯手上。自2013年起，她便担任英伟达首席财务官，现已被任命为临时首席执行官。担她从未接受过最高岗位的定向培养，必须快速上手。丑闻曝光后，英伟达股价跌幅约20%。除安抚投资者之外，她还需要稳住供应商、修复和白宫的关系，保住那一张庞大的融资安排与合作关系网络 —— 正是这些关系网，推动英伟达实现了迅猛扩张。

Ms Kress inherits one of the most formidable money-making machines in corporate history. Two-thirds of the world’s artificial-intelligence computing power runs on Nvidia’s chips. Its gross margins hover around 75%, against 55% at AMD, a rival chip designer. This financial year analysts expect it to bring in more than $400bn in revenue, nearly double last year’s total. And it is sitting on around $100bn in cash and liquid financial instruments.

克雷斯接手的是企业史上盈利能力最强的商业机器。全球三分之二的人工智能算力依托英伟达芯片运行。英伟达的毛利率在75%上下徘徊，而竞争对手AMD则为 55%。分析师预计，本财年英伟达营收将突破 4000亿美元，接近去年全年的两倍。此外，公司持有约1000 亿美元现金及高流动性金融工具。

Ms Kress’s first test will come on November 17th, when Nvidia reports its latest earnings. A blowout quarter would soothe nerves. But investors will also want assurances that Nvidia can still achieve the 70% revenue growth it has promised for next year. She will need to convince them that the upheaval at the top will not distract the company at a time when it faces formidable rivals, including AMD and cloud giants such as Google and Amazon, which now design their own AI chips.

克雷斯上任后的首场考验在11月17日，这天，英伟达将发布最新一季财报。如果本季度业绩大幅超出预期，便能够安抚市场情绪。但投资者同时希望英伟达仍有能力兑现明年营收增长70%的目标。 她需要说服投资者，在强敌环伺之际，高层震荡不会让公司分心。竞争对手阵容强大，既有 AMD，也有谷歌、亚马逊这类云巨头，这些企业如今都在自研AI芯片。

作者： 经济学人      来源：一天一篇外刊