Who could replace Jensen Huang at Nvidia

Nvidia's CEO faces scrutiny

Nvidia's board is investigating whether CEO Jensen Huang was the target of a foreign intelligence effort. Huang has also admitted to having an affair.

Huang says he's staying put

Nvidia told Business Insider on Sunday that Jensen is committed to continuing to lead Nvidia as CEO without interruption.

“Jensen is committed to continuing to lead Nvidia as CEO without interruption.”

Why Huang would be hard to replace

Huang owns about three point six percent of Nvidia and has no designated number two.Brad Gastwirth of Circular Technology said his combination of technical expertise, strategic vision, and industry relationships is nearly impossible to replicate.

“Jensen's combination of technical expertise, strategic vision, and industry relationships is nearly impossible to replicate.”

The internal candidates

Analysts floated CFO Colette Kress, who has worked at Nvidia for thirteen years, and VP Ian Buck, who helped develop CUDA and has worked at Nvidia for twenty two years, as potential successors.

Madison Huang's rising profile

A former employee said Madison Huang, Jensen's daughter and Nvidia's senior director of product marketing for physical AI, has been asserting greater authority across Nvidia's businesses.

External options exist

Some observers have floated Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian and Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman as potential successors. Both oversee cloud computing businesses that work closely with Nvidia.

The stakes if Huang leaves

Brad Gastwirth said losing Huang under current circumstances could seriously hurt Nvidia. The company would continue operating, but he questioned whether it could maintain the same pace of innovation and execution.

“I think it would be one of the worst things that could happen to Nvidia.”