The search for Nvidia’s new CEO is officially underway.
The company’s board of directors announced that CEO and founder Jensen Huang resigned “effective immediately” in a statement on Wednesday. The board tapped Colette Kress, executive vice president and chief financial officer, as interim CEO until a permanent successor is found.
Huang resigned three days after he admitted to having an affair, and Nvidia’s board opened an investigation into whether he was the “target of a foreign intelligence effort.”
As the fallout around Nvidia continues, analysts, investors, and prediction market bettors have begun to wonder who could helm the company next. Here’s who they’re pitching.
Rene Haas
The CEO of Arm Holdings, a semiconductor manufacturing company, is one name that’s been bandied about. On Wednesday, The Financial Times reported that Nvidia has approached Rene Haas as it searches for a successor. Sources told the outlet that it’s not guaranteed Haas will be offered the role or accept it.
Haas previously served as vice president and general manager of Nvidia’s computing products business unit for 7 years.
Ian Buck
Reuters reported that analysts and investors view Ian Buck, Nvidia’s vice president of hyperscale and high-performance computing, as a possible candidate for the top job.
“The permanent job is a different story, though, because Nvidia’s edge comes from its technology, and the board would likely want an engineer in the chair, Josh Gilbert, a lead analyst at eToro, told Reuters. “Someone like Ian Buck, who led the software platform that keeps developers tied to Nvidia’s chips, is the sort of internal name you’d expect to come up.”
Prediction market users are also banking on Buck. He’s at the top of the list on both Kalshi and Polymarket.
Colette Kress
Reuters reported that analysts and investors also view interim CEO Colette Kress as someone who could do the job long-term. Armina Rosenberg, a cofounder at Minotaur Capital, which owns Nvidia stock, told Reuters that finding a new permanent CEO won’t be quick.
“The more realistic route is an interim leader from the long-serving inner circle, possibly as a co-CEO structure: one leader to steady the business and the finances, such as Colette Kress, alongside a product and technology leader, such as Ian Buck,” Rosenberg told the outlet.
Tim Cook
President Donald Trump also weighed in on the search for Nvidia’s new CEO, recommending former Apple CEO Tim Cook. Cook stepped down as CEO in September, but remains executive chairman.
“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. A Legend replaces a Legend!” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Thursday.
Thomas Kurian
Dan Ives, a partner and senior managing director at Yorkville Ives & Co., had a few ideas of his own. During an interview with Fortune, Ives named Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian as a promising candidate.
Kurian joined Google in 2019 after working at Oracle and McKinsey.
Nikesh Arora
Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora is getting swept up in the speculation, too. An Nvidia shareholder told The Economic Times that Arora is among his top picks to replace Huang. Ives also said Arora is on his list.
Johny Srouji
Johny Srouji, the senior vice president of hardware technology at Apple, is another name popping up in conversations. A person familiar with the matter told Semafor that Srouji is being considered for the CEO role.
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