Who Could Replace Jensen Huang? A (Highly Unscientific) List of Possible Successors
It is almost inconceivable that Nvidia would fire its rock-star CEO. Yet here we are, on the precipice of exactly that. On Kalshi, Jensen Huang's odds of surviving the week sit at a lowly 30%. Even though he built one of the world's most valuable—and, many would argue, dangerously powerful—companies, the tides have turned decisively against him.
Huang has confessed to an extramarital affair, but as of Wednesday afternoon it was not even clear whom he meant: Alice Huang, the Chinese executive suspected by U.S. intelligence of spying for her country, or Kimberly Powell, an Nvidia executive who reports to him and who, according to five sources cited in an explosive New York Times report, was also a paramour.
The Board's Likely Play
Even if Huang is pushed out as CEO, the board members he has made very rich are unlikely to cut him loose entirely. Barring another shoe dropping, they could keep him on as chairman—a role Nvidia does not currently have. But someone still has to run the company, and there is no apparent succession plan. That leaves us, like everyone else, to speculate while we wait to see what happens next.
While Huang's 60 direct reports undoubtedly warrant a closer look, consider this our own parlor game, featuring some obvious and some less obvious candidates.
Lisa Su
The AMD CEO runs Nvidia's most credible rival—and is a distant cousin of Huang. The Information floated her name this week, but why would she leave her job for his? Her company stands to benefit from every day that Nvidia spends distracted by an investigation, congressional briefings, and all the mini-dramas sure to follow. Her best move might be to send a nice note and keep her current corner office.
Eric Schmidt
He was the pick of Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, senior associate dean for leadership studies at the Yale School of Management, whom we spoke with earlier this week. Schmidt could "parachute in tomorrow and do a very good job," Sonnenfeld said—and perhaps he could. He ran Google from 2001 to 2011, chaired the National Security Commission on AI from 2018 to 2021, and now runs the rocket company Relativity Space. Chips, software, government, rockets—it is an impressive range.
Then again, Schmidt would bring a lot of baggage when it comes to his own extramarital dalliances. It is hard to see him clearing the board for that reason.
Lip-Bu Tan
Intel's CEO knows chips, and right now he might welcome a very soft landing. Last month, Intel reported third-quarter revenue up 21% to $16.5 billion, then warned that its fourth-quarter results would fall short of Wall Street's forecasts. The AI boom has caused a memory-chip shortage, pushing up PC prices and cutting PC sales. That has hurt Intel—PC chips are a big part of its business—and its stock plunged 20% in after-hours trading on the warning, having already slid more than 30% since September. A move to a company that is eating everyone's lunch would be a pretty amazing escape hatch.
Bret Taylor
The former Salesforce co-CEO and OpenAI board chair now runs the AI startup Sierra, and his résumé includes many of the biggest brands in Silicon Valley. He co-created Google Maps, served as Facebook's CTO, and chaired Twitter's board through its sale to Elon Musk. He then took over as OpenAI's board chair after "the Blip"—Sam Altman's firing and fast return. When companies need an unflappable, likable adult in the room, they call Taylor. He probably knows nearly every customer Nvidia has, too.
Ian Buck
If the board feels strongly about having a "builder" at the helm, they could do worse than the Nvidia VP who helped develop CUDA, the chip software that has become central to Nvidia's dominance in AI. Analysts and former employees have floated him as a possible successor, and Kalshi traders give him a [odds truncated in source].
via TechCrunch AI