GEOFF BENNETT: Well, for its part, the broader market rallied today, but Nvidia shares took a hit, closing down more than 4 percent.

And the economic stakes extend well beyond Nvidia itself.

With a market value still exceeding $4 trillion, the company has become a major driver of the stock market and a central force in the AI boom.

For more on that, we turn now to Mohamed El-Erian, professor at the Wharton School of Business and chief economic adviser at Allianz.

Thanks for being back with us here on the "News Hour."

We appreciate it.

MOHAMED EL-ERIAN, Chief Economic Adviser, Allianz: Thank you, Geoff.

GEOFF BENNETT: It is hard to imagine a CEO more synonymous with his own company than Jensen Huang.

In many ways, Nvidia is Jensen Huang, and Jensen Huang is Nvidia.

What does it mean for his company and the broader AI industry if his leadership is now suddenly in question?

MOHAMED EL-ERIAN: So he's the founder, the CEO, the director, the president of Nvidia, and all that doesn't even capture how important he is to the company and to the sector.

As we just heard, it is the most critical company in tech worldwide.

It brings together software, hardware.

It provides financing to many other tech firms.

So it's also at the center of the financing relationship.

And tech has been, and AI in particular has been an engine of growth and is the promise of future productivity.

So this is really central, not just in terms of national security, domestic politics, and geopolitics, as we heard earlier, but in terms of economics and finance.

GEOFF BENNETT: Jensen Huang, as I understand it, has some 60 direct reports.

He has no obvious successor.

He has built a company so closely identified with his own leadership that replacing him will be enormously difficult.

Even the board, as I'm told, is loyal to him.

There's been so much focus on what happens if he goes.

My question is, what happens if he stays?

Does Nvidia risk sending the message that he's simply too important to be held accountable?

MOHAMED EL-ERIAN: Look, the board has two huge challenges.

One is conducting an independent investigation into the founder of the company and into the person who probably asked you to join the board.

So they have got to be independent, they have got to be comprehensive, and they have got to keep shareholder interest front and center.

Then you have a second issue, which is what's called key man risk.

One of the responsibilities of a board is to make sure that there is a succession.

And, clearly, as you said, no one knows what would happen if Jensen Huang has to step down.

So they also have to deal with this key person risk.

So, this board, believe me, will be having lots and lots of calls trying to sort out these two issues, and doing so while the political arm is also interested in what is going on in the company right now.

GEOFF BENNETT: Let's talk more about that, because the Trump administration has favored limited AI regulation.

But do these revelations combined with the Democrats set to take over the House and Senate, does that does that change the political calculus in Washington?

MOHAMED EL-ERIAN: So, even before we heard the news about Jensen, there was questioning about the let it rip approach of the Trump administration, just let AI go, because, if we don't, according to that view, China will take the lead, and this is really consequential.

So there were concerns we were going to have some sand in the wheels, if you like, to slow this down, because we're starting to realize, Geoff, it's not just about the benefits of AI.There's also collateral damage and unintended consequences that need to be a risk-managed.

And you can't just ignore them, because they may be problematic down the road.

So what this will do is, it will get Congress even more interested into, how do you put more sand in the wheels and try to slow down a little bit the development, not a lot?

But for example, it's not about not building data centers.

It's about building data centers better.

And it's going to be that sort of distinction that we're going to see come to the fore.

GEOFF BENNETT: Mohamed El-Erian, always great to speak with you.

Thanks for being with us.

MOHAMED EL-ERIAN: Thank you.