Who could lead Nvidia after Jensen Huang’s exit

On Thursday, November 12, the chipmaker announced that Huang had resigned as president, chief executive and director, effective immediately. His exit ended a tenure that began when he co-founded Nvidia in 1993. The company’s filing gave no reason for the departure. It followed weeks of reports about Huang’s personal relationships, including allegations that one involved a woman suspected of working for Chinese intelligence. Nvidia has said it has no reason to believe that company secrets or U.S. national security were compromised.

“Jensen’s contributions to NVIDIA are profound. NVIDIA is one of the most consequential technology companies in the world”, the board said in a statement. As part of the same transition, Harvey C. Jones was appointed the board’s first-ever chair. Jones previously served as CEO of chip design company Synopsys.

The board has said it will consider both internal and external candidates for the permanent role. No succession plan was ever made public. That means the field is open, and several names stand out.

Colette Kress: the steady hand

Kress has been Nvidia’s executive vice president and chief financial officer since joining the company in September 2013. Before that she worked at Microsoft, Cisco and chipmaker Texas Instruments. Her advantage is that she already holds the job and knows the company’s customers, investors and finances closely. Jones said Kress has a deep understanding of Nvidia’s business, customers, operations and financial position. The main question about her is the lack of an engineering background. That matters at a company whose value depends on predicting where computing is headed.

Ian Buck: the technical heir

Buck joined Nvidia in 2004 and is widely seen as one of the main architects of CUDA. This is the software platform that keeps developers building on Nvidia hardware. As vice president of hyperscale and high-performance computing, he leads AI hardware and software product work with major cloud and AI customers. Promoting him would signal technical continuity and would reassure the large cloud companies that make up much of Nvidia’s revenue. However, he has never run a company of Nvidia’s size, and he has much less experience dealing with Wall Street than Kress.

René Haas: the returning insider

Haas has led British chip designer Arm since 2022. He spent about seven years at Nvidia before joining Arm, so he knows both the company’s culture and its partners. He would bring experience running a publicly listed chip company. His main link to Nvidia also has a complicated history: Nvidia’s attempt to buy Arm collapsed in 2022 under regulatory pressure. Hiring him would also mean pulling him away from a company where he is firmly in charge.

Johny Srouji: the chip architect

Srouji has been Apple’s chief hardware officer since April 2026. Before that, he was the company’s senior vice president of hardware technologies from 2015 to 2026. He led the development of the Apple-designed processors that replaced Intel chips in Mac computers. He previously worked on processor development and design at Intel and IBM, and he was considered for Intel’s top job in 2019. Few executives have a stronger record in chip design. On the other hand, Apple gave him his expanded role only seven months ago and would likely fight to keep him.

Tim Cook: the political favorite

The most high-profile suggestion came from the White House. “Now that Nvidia CEO JENSEN HUANG, who has done a fantastic job, has resigned, there is only one man to take his place – TIM COOK of Apple”, U.S. President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social. Cook handed Apple’s CEO job to John Ternus on September 1 and still chairs Apple’s board.

Several points support Cook. He has already succeeded a founder once, taking over from Steve Jobs in 2011. He is known for managing supply chains, and he has close ties with policymakers at a time when Nvidia’s chip sales to China are under scrutiny. However, there is no sign that Cook is interested in the job. The president also has no formal role in the board’s decision.

Other names

Other Nvidia veterans who could be considered include Jay Puri, who heads worldwide field operations, and chief technology officer Michael Kagan, who co-founded Mellanox before Nvidia acquired it. Some observers have mentioned AMD chief executive Lisa Su, though it would be very unusual for the head of Nvidia’s main rival to switch sides.

In the end, the board must decide whether Nvidia needs a manager to stabilize the company or a technologist to set its direction. That question will hang over Nvidia’s third-quarter fiscal 2027 results, due on Tuesday, November 17. This will be the first earnings report in the company’s public history without its founder in charge.

Earlier, Qazinform reported that U.S. lawmakers have requested testimony from former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and senior company and government officials amid growing national security concerns over a suspected Chinese intelligence operation