Photo credit: Bloomberg via Getty Images/Reuters
Nvidia finds itself in a situation that few could have imagined just recently: the company must now plan for a future without its founder Jensen Huang.
(The original article by the BBC correspondent in English can be read here.)
The head of the American giant - a manufacturer of artificial intelligence chips - left his post on Thursday, November 12, amid reports of several extramarital affairs - including with a woman suspected of working for Chinese intelligence.
Nvidia CFO Colette Kress took over interim leadership of the company. Now the tech giant faces one of its biggest challenges: finding the right person to lead the company that Huang and his friends founded more than three decades ago and has grown into one of the world's most valuable corporations.
Who could succeed Huang?
Financier
image copyrightNvidia
Colette Kress is an industry veteran with over 30 years of experience. She previously held leadership positions at technology companies such as Cisco and Microsoft.
Kress, who is also Nvidia's executive vice president, has witnessed the company's transformation from a video game chip maker in the early 1990s to a powerhouse in the AI chip market.
According to Josh Gilbert, an analyst at investment firm eToro, Kress "hosted all earnings conference calls" (along with Huang) and became a "familiar and trusted voice for the market - exactly what the market desperately needs right now."
End of Most Popular
However, as Gilbert points out, making the position permanent is a different matter entirely: a company known for its cutting-edge technology solutions might want an engineer rather than a financier in the position.
Co-founder and engineer
image copyrightGetty Images
This extension will help if you have difficulties accessing the BBC Russian Service website.
Download extension
End of story Chrome browser extension - link
Another possible candidate is Chris Malachowski, who co-founded Nvidia with Huang and Curtis Praem. He is the only one of the company's leaders who has a level of official position comparable to Huang.
Malachowski played a key role in the development of the company's computing technologies.
Ian Buck, who oversees hyperscale and high-performance computing at Nvidia, is also being considered as a potential candidate if the company decides that an engineer should run it.
Buck was one of the pioneers who helped expand the use of GPUs outside of the video game industry.
“He could maintain Nvidia's technology advantage, but his ability to build large-scale commercial relationships and cope with geopolitical challenges could be questionable,” said Charu Chanana, investment strategist at investment bank Saxo.
Today, Nvidia's cutting-edge processors are considered the gold standard in artificial intelligence development.
Huang's children also hold leadership positions at Nvidia, but they are still quite young and do not have enough experience to lead the company.
Heads of Apple and Arm Holdings
According to Jun Bei Liu, founder of Ten Cap, Nvidia will likely first choose a candidate from within the company, but will likely consider non-Nvidia tech entrepreneurs to find Huang's permanent replacement.
US President Donald Trump suggested Tim Cook, the head of Apple, as a suitable replacement.
“Now that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang - who has done a fantastic job - has stepped down, there is only one person to take his place: Apple's Tim Cook. Legend replaces legend! — the US President wrote on the social network Truth Social.
June Bei Liu noted that Tim Cook would be a suitable candidate because of his experience managing global supply chains, but she doubts that Tim Cook would want to leave Apple, where he holds the post of executive.
Photo copyright: Reuters
Jun Bei Liu and Char Chanan also mentioned Rene Haas, the CEO of British technology company Arm Holdings.
Haas worked at Nvidia for seven years (from 2006 to 2013) and rose to the position of vice president of the company.
In 2025, Time magazine named Haas one of the "100 Most Influential People in AI."
“The challenge is to find someone who can combine Jensen's technical expertise, strategic vision and connections in the global technology industry,” says Liu.
As Chara Chanana points out, Haas has experience running a public company, although Nvidia's business model is significantly different from Arm Holdings'. At the same time, Nvidia and Arm are collaborating with each other.
It is known that Nvidia Grace and Nvidia Vera processors run on Arm architecture. However, not so long ago Arm Holdings introduced the first processor under its own brand, which indicates a change in the company's strategy. It is also known that Nvidia tried to buy Arm several years ago, but was unsuccessful, and in February 2026 it finally withdrew from the share capital of the British company by selling its shares in Arm.
What will happen to Nvidia?
Ten Cap's Liu says it was only a matter of time before Huang stepped down as Nvidia CEO.
“It’s not just about personal behavior anymore,” she said. “The issue concerns corporate governance, national security issues and maintaining confidence in the management of one of the most strategically important companies in the world.”
A number of major investment firms have downgraded their forecasts for the semiconductor industry giant, a notable development given that investors have long remained optimistic about the company.
The first alarming signal was the opening of trading in New York - shortly after the announcement of Huang's resignation.
Nvidia shares fell more than 13% at the open, wiping the company's market value by more than half a trillion dollars.
Photo credit: Bloomberg via Getty Images
Stacy Rasgon, senior analyst for the US semiconductor market at Bernstein Research, said in a note to investors: "Intuition suggests that we may not yet fully understand the depth of the problems that may emerge."
Rasgon slashed Nvidia's share price target (as estimated by Bernstein) by half and added: "For now, it's best to watch this from the sidelines."
Ray Wang, CEO of California-based consulting company Constellation Research, believes that this crisis is not so much a problem for the entire artificial intelligence industry as for Nvidia itself. The company has to wonder: Will the next CEO have the same appeal as Huang?
“This is the crux of the problem, because many partnerships and investments were concluded precisely because of trust in Jensen,” he explained.
Featuring Kali Hayes
End of Subscribe to our social networks and newsletter
Download the new BBC World Service app!
When you first open the app, select "BBC News Russian Service" and receive notifications about important news, analysis, videos and podcasts.
Important: The new app is not available in the UK and US.
Find out more
Video playlist
End Video playlist
