Hajra Naz
There is no precedent for the leadership crisis Nvidia currently faces. According to prediction markets on Kalshi, the odds that Jensen Huang will remain Nvidia’s CEO are only 30%.
The crisis deepened with the reporting of extramarital affairs. Alice Huang, an executive whose husband is allegedly involved in foreign espionage, and Kimberly Powell, an Nvidia executive that is Huang’s direct report, have also been named.
The board may part ways with Huang operationally; however, termination is unlikely given his wealth generation. The directors could create a chairman position and move Huang there. Absence of a clear succession plan has industry watchers looking at potential candidates.
Lisa Su:
Lisa Su runs Nvidia’s direct competitor and has a familial relation with Huang and has therefore been named by some industry publications. Su leaving AMD is speculative at best. During the time that Huang is facing regulatory scrutiny with Nvidia, AMD benefits. For Su to leave AMD would be ill-advised.
Eric Schmidt:
Leadership experts believe that Eric Schmidt could step in immediately. Schmidt ran Google from 2001 to 2011 and served as Chairman of the National Security Commission on AI.
Schmidt is currently the CEO of Relativity Space, and given his extensive experience, watchers believe he would easily fill Huang’s shoes.
Read More: Nvidia releases new open models to run agents in the enterprise and on PCs
Lip-Bu Tan:
Tan is currently CEO of Intel, and although Intel has recently issued weak forecasts for the fourth quarter, they recently reported strong third-quarter earnings of $16.5 billion. Tan has extensive semiconductor experience.
Memory-chip shortages are driving up costs for personal computers and slowing hardware sales. Intel stock dropped after their guidance. Transitioning to Nvidia could be a good strategic move.
4. Bret Taylor (Sierra CEO and Former Salesforce Co-CEO)
Bret Taylor is very well connected in Silicon Valley. He helped create Google Maps, was CTO at Facebook, and chaired Twitter during its sale to Elon Musk. He also managed the board at OpenAI during leadership changes. During times of major turmoil at companies, Taylor is often called in for help by company boards, and he has numerous existing relationships with Nvidia’s customers.
5. Ian Buck (Nvidia Vice President)
Engineering leadership can be a good predictor of managerial success. CUDA is the framework that helped Nvidia dominate artificial intelligence and other areas, and Buck directed its development.
While not well-known to the public, the Stanford PhD is a safe choice, especially if Huang keeps the chairman role to mentor new operational leadership.
6. Internal Engineering and Financial Leadership
Other internal candidates being considered by the board include Andrew Bell, the senior vice president of hardware engineering. Bell has deep experience with semiconductor design and has worked at Nvidia for 25 years.
Colette Kress, CFO, has been mentioned by the Wall Street analysts but lacks product development vision, which other engineering leaders, like Bell, possess.
Read More: Amazon makes its boldest move against Nvidia with new TorchNeuron dev tool
7. Lori Huang (Family Trust Co-Leader)
As a different, more speculative, option, Lori Huang, the wife of Jensen Huang, also has extensive experience. The couple met as lab partners at Oregon State University before founding Nvidia, and she has a background in chip design. Before managing family trusts, Huang was a chip designer at Silicon Graphics. While an unconventional option, Huang’s background provides deep institutional knowledge.
