As if the alleged extramarital affair with a Chinese spy (also alleged, by the way) weren’t enough, now it seems Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang had another relationship outside his marriage… and whatever else may come out from here on. That’s exactly why the board of directors of the American company is weighing Jensen’s future at the helm of the company.
But finding the right person to run the company Huang helped create more than three decades ago and that has become the second most valuable company in the world, behind Apple, is quite a challenge.
We take a look at the candidates who have emerged as possible successors.
The chief financial officer
Colette Kress, Nvidia’s chief financial officer, has been singled out as someone who could keep the company on course on an interim basis and, possibly, keep its share price from plunging.
Kress, an industry veteran with more than 30 years of experience, previously held senior positions at tech companies such as Cisco and Microsoft.
She now serves as Nvidia’s executive vice president and has witnessed the company’s transformation, from making chips for video games at the start of the 1990s to becoming a semiconductor giant for artificial intelligence.
The cofounder and the engineer
Another option is Chris Malachowsky, who founded Nvidia alongside Huang and Curtis Priem, and is the only executive who shares the same level of seniority.
Malachowsky has played a key role in developing the company’s computing technology. Ian Buck, who oversees Nvidia’s high-performance computing business, has also emerged as a potential candidate if the company is willing to put an engineer in charge of the company.
Buck was one of the early pioneers who helped popularize the use of graphics processors beyond video game applications.
The senior executives of Apple and Arm
Nvidia is likely to opt at first for an internal appointment, but it could look outside the company for a more permanent replacement. Experts have floated several names of tech entrepreneurs from outside Nvidia.
Some have argued that former Apple chief executive Tim Cook could be a possible option, given his knowledge of managing global supply chains, although it was questioned whether he would be willing to leave the iPhone maker, which he heads.
Nvidia’s processors are made with the help of chipmakers from around the world, including Taiwan’s TSMC and South Korea’s SK Hynix and Samsung.
And these are our picks, along with those of many tech experts around the world. Are changes coming at Nvidia?
