# Who will succeed Jensen Huang? The race to find Nvidia's next chief begins — retained record

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source: [news](https://highsignal.app/data/news) (news:india-yourstory)  published 2026-11-13 06:05 ingested 2026-11-14 03:05

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Who will succeed Jensen Huang? The race to find Nvidia's next chief begins
Jensen Huang’s departure ends a 33-year leadership era at Nvidia, triggering a search for his successor. Names including Lisa Su, Rene Haas and Tim Cook have entered the conversation, with Trump’s endorsement of Cook adding an unexpected twist.
Nvidia has begun its search for a permanent chief executive officer after co-founder Jensen Huang resigned on November 12, ending a 33-year run at the held. The company board has said it would consider candidates from inside and outside the company.
Meanwhile, the chief financial officer Colette Kress has been appointed the interim CEO.
The leadership crisis follows a week of mounting controversy at the chipmaking company, which is a key player in the global AI race. Nvidia faced scrutiny over reports of a possible foreign intelligence operation targeting Huang.
On November 8, Huang acknowledged being unfaithful to his wife in a message to employees. “I was unfaithful to my wife. My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did,” he wrote.
The statement followed reports of his relationship with Alice Huang, a former executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed International, a company scrutinised by US authorities over suspected assistance to Chinese customers seeking advanced Nvidia chips subject to export restrictions.
The controversy deepened with reports of another relationship involving Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of healthcare.
On November 12, Reuters reported, citing two people familiar with the matter, that Huang also had an intimate relationship with another female Nvidia employee, whose identity it did not disclose.
Nvidia’s board had earlier launched an independent investigation into reports that Huang had been targeted in a foreign intelligence operation. It said it had “no reason to believe that either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised."
The independent directors subsequently appointed former acting US attorney Joon H. Kim and law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to conduct the inquiry. No findings have been published.
US Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Justice Department had reached no conclusion on whether Alice Huang was a spy, while confirming that the FBI was examining the reports.
These developments come amid the wider backdrop of a tightening contest over access to advanced AI chips.
US export controls restrict the sale of certain high-end Nvidia processors to China. Reuters reported on November 12 that Chinese AI firms were seeking to reserve Nvidia-powered computing capacity at overseas data centres, partly out of concern that Washington could tighten restrictions on remote access.
A proposed US Remote Access Security Act, which would give the Commerce Department authority over cloud-based access to restricted technology, has passed the House of Representatives but it still requires Senate approval.
The search for a successor
Meanwhile, Nvidia’s board has appointed longtime director Harvey C. Jones as its first chair and formally opened the search for a successor. The company has not announced a shortlist.
Reuters identified CFO Colette Kress and Ian Buck, a senior engineering executive who joined the company in 2004 and helped develop CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture), as prominent internal candidates being discussed by analysts and investors.
External names floated by media outlets include Arm chief executive Rene Haas, who is also a former Nvidia executive; and AMD chief Lisa Su. Axios mentioned former Intel chief Pat Gelsinger, Google Cloud head Thomas Kurian, and Apple executive chairman Tim Cook in a broader list of potential names.
None has been announced by Nvidia as a candidate, and there is no publicly confirmed official shortlist.
US President Donald Trump added a political twist to the proceedings by publicly suggesting Cook for the position. He posted a statement, “There is only one man to take his place - TIM COOK of Apple. A Legend replaces a Legend!”
Beyond the leadership change
The succession race matters because Nvidia is seen as more than a company selling graphics processors.
Founded in 1993, the company initially focused on gaming graphics before expanding into accelerated computing, which uses specialised processors to handle large numbers of calculations simultaneously. Its CUDA software, data-centre systems, and networking technology now form a broad platform for training and running AI models.
The next CEO needs to maintain Nvidia's technological advantage while managing customers, regulators, and the company’s increasingly strategic role in US-China technology policy.
Competition is also intensifying. On November 12, AMD updated its Instinct MI400 accelerator range, announced the MI450X GPU, and shared new performance results for its MI455X GPU on its Helios rack-scale system. The announcements underline company's efforts to challenge Nvidia in AI data centres.
Nvidia, meanwhile, announced a partnership with South Korea’s Rebellions and SK Telecom to connect Korean-designed AI processors with its infrastructure for sovereign AI projects. The planned Rebellions R200 systems are expected to be ready in 2028.
Kress has sought to reassure customers and investors about continuity. In her statement following the appointment, she said, “We will continue advancing the work that has made NVIDIA a leader in accelerated computing and AI, and execute on the opportunities ahead.”
Nvidia’s third-quarter fiscal 2027 results are scheduled for November 17, with Kress due to provide written financial commentary ahead of the investor call.
That will offer an early opportunity to assess operational continuity under the interim leadership. The bigger challenge, however, lies with the board.
Jensen Huang has been central to Nvidia's identity, strategy and influence for more than three decades. So his replacement has to be someone capable of managing not just a major semiconductor business but also an entire technology ecosystem.
Edited by Swetha Kannan
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