The board of US artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant Nvidia will reportedly meet to decide whether to remove president Jensen Huang, who is embroiled in a sex scandal. Market analysts and investors see Nvidia chief financial officer Colette Kress and senior technology executive Ian Buck as the most likely internal candidates to succeed him.
Reuters reported on Thursday (12 November) that Huang was facing a leadership crisis following reports of two extramarital affairs. People familiar with the matter said Nvidia's board would discuss whether to remove him on Wednesday (11 November). Nvidia has yet to respond to a request for comment on the board meeting.
Huang has never publicly named a successor. Concerns that his departure could affect Nvidia's future have triggered a sell-off in its shares this week, wiping about US$600 billion (S$770 billion) off its market value. It is now the world's second-most valuable company.
Kress, 59, joined Nvidia in 2013 after working at technology companies including Microsoft, Cisco and Texas Instruments. She has long co-hosted quarterly earnings calls with Huang and is a familiar figure to investors.
US news website Semafor reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that some Nvidia directors support appointing Kress as interim chief executive.
Josh Gilbert, chief analyst at trading platform eToro, sees Kress as the obvious choice to steady the company. Having served as chief financial officer for 13 years, she is highly trusted by the market and could shore up investor confidence at a time of uncertainty.
However, Gilbert noted that a long-term successor may need a strong technical background, as Nvidia's competitive advantage stems largely from technological innovation.
Shay Boloor, chief market strategist at Futurum Equities, believes Buck would be the strongest internal candidate to succeed Huang in the long term if Nvidia has to change its leadership, particularly given his involvement in developing the Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) and his experience leading the company's large AI business.
CUDA is a parallel computing platform and programming model launched by Nvidia in 2007. It transformed the role of graphics processing units (GPUs), taking them beyond rendering 3D images and gaming graphics on computer screens to handling vast amounts of general-purpose computing at high speed.
Buck joined Nvidia in 2004 and is one of the principal developers of its CUDA software system. CUDA is a key technology in Nvidia's AI chip ecosystem, helping to keep developers using its products.
Buck currently oversees Nvidia's AI hardware and software products for hyperscale data centres. He holds a doctorate from Stanford University and has extensive experience in AI research and development.
Data from prediction market platform Polymarket puts the probability of Jensen Huang resigning or being removed by the end of this year at 83%. Ian Buck leads the field of potential successors, followed by Colette Kress, although trading volumes in the relevant prediction markets are low.
Besides the two leading internal candidates, the market is also watching Rene Haas, chief executive of UK chip designer Arm; Jeff Fisher, a veteran executive who has worked at Nvidia for 32 years; and Huang's two children, who also hold executive roles at Nvidia.
Armina Rosenberg, co-founder of Australian investment firm Minotaur Capital, believes finding a permanent successor will take time. The board could consider having Kress and Buck jointly lead the company, with one responsible for stabilising its finances and operations and the other overseeing product and technology development.
