London-listed technology trusts suffered another bruising sell-off on Friday, after Nvidia’s shares were thrown into turmoil once more by Jensen Huang’s dramatic departure.

Nvidia shares opened 2.3 per cent lower upon Friday’s opening bell, having plunged as much as 14.3 per cent on Thursday, following the resignation of its chief executive after 33 years at the helm.

The losses dragged the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index down 0.3 per cent, while the S&P 500 shed 0.1 per cent.

Losses were exacerbated by revelations of a third extramarital affair involving Huang, following news of one with a woman who is suspected to be a Chinese spy by the US government and Nvidia’s vice president of healthcare.

Betting big

The crisis surrounding Huang has dealt a heaby blow to a number of London-listed technology investment trusts who bet big on the chipmaker long deemed essential to the AI trade.

Manchester & London Investment Trust which has Nvidia alongside fellow US chip firms Micron and Broadcom, account for about a third of its portfolio, has lost nearly a fifth of its value over the last month.

Allianz Technology Trust has seen its share price tumble 13.2 per cent, while Polar Capital Technology Trust, has lost 13.3 per cent. Both boast Nvidia as their largest holding.

On Friday, following US market open, Manchester & London’s daily losses extended to 1.5 per cent.

Polar Capital plunged 1.5 per cent and Allianz shed 1.2 per cent.

Concentration woes

Over 40 per cent of Polar Capital’s portfolio is exposed to semiconductor stocks. Micron and Broadcom also present as a top ten holding alongside Microsoft which suffered a global outage on Thursday and plunged critical services across the UK into the dark.

All three investment trusts are highly concentrated in the US market, led by Manchester & London which has 92.6 per cent of its equity exposure in North America, leaving it particularly vulnerable to the mass sell-offs plaguing the sector over the past week.

Away from Huang, concerns over debt-fuelled hyperscaler data centre build-out coupled with the Democrat’s resounding midterm victory has left investors questioning the longevity of the AI boom.

In contrast, trusts with minimal to no exposure to US-listed tech have seen their share prices rise. Finsbury Growth & Income Trust, led by notable fund manager Nick Train, has increased 3.1 per cent in the last week, while UK small-cap stockpicker Onward Opportunities rose 1.9 per cent.