Nvidia’s Jensen Huang Succession Question: The Executives Analysts Are Watching

Nvidia’s board is investigating whether CEO Jensen Huang was the target of a “foreign intelligence effort,” according to Business Insider’s report. The succession debate has also intensified after Huang admitted to having one affair and The New York Times reported he had a romance with a direct report at Nvidia.

Nvidia told Business Insider that “Jensen is committed to continuing to lead Nvidia as CEO without interruption.” Still, analysts and former employees are discussing possible successors if Huang steps down or is ousted.

Analyst Gil Luria said CFO Colette Kress is Nvidia’s only other highly visible executive and could become interim CEO if Huang stepped aside. Kress has worked at Nvidia for 13 years and previously held finance roles at Cisco and Microsoft.

Ian Buck is described as another possible long-term replacement because of his engineering background and role in developing CUDA, the chip software central to Nvidia’s AI dominance. Buck heads Nvidia’s data center and computing businesses and has worked at Nvidia for 22 years.

Huang’s children, Madison and Spencer, also work at Nvidia. One former employee said Madison Huang, senior director of product marketing for physical AI, has been asserting greater authority across Nvidia’s businesses.

Nvidia has not publicly named a second-in-command, and Huang is known for a flat leadership structure with as many as 60 direct reports. Daniel Newman, CEO of The Futurum Group, said that structure works while Huang is in charge but leaves no publicly positioned heir.

Brad Gastwirth of Circular Technology said Huang would be difficult to replace because of his technical expertise, strategic vision, and industry relationships. He also said Huang owns about 3.6% of Nvidia and would likely have considerable input into succession unless the investigation uncovers serious wrongdoing.

Some observers have floated outside candidates including Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian and Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman. Both run major cloud businesses that invest heavily in AI infrastructure and work closely with Nvidia.

Business Insider’s report also notes that Nvidia cofounder and fellow Chris Malachowsky could influence a leadership change. Analysts emphasized that Nvidia’s culture and Huang’s role in shaping it make any transition unusually consequential.