Nvidia succession: inside the boardroom race to replace Jensen Huang

By Tom Whitfield

A majority of Nvidia’s 11 directors can dismiss CEO Jensen Huang with or without cause, while Huang’s roughly 3.6% stake and one vote per share give him no ownership-based veto. The directors met late Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026, to consider removing the co-founder who has run the company for 33 years.

Their meeting followed a Wall Street Journal report about two extramarital affairs, one involving a woman whom U.S. officials reportedly suspect of spying for China. By Thursday morning, Nvidia had announced no decision and made no public statement about Huang’s future.

Huang has never named a successor, and no candidate has received an offer in published reports. Investors, suppliers and customers now face the same succession question.

Who are the leading internal candidates?

Reuters reported that many analysts and investors viewed Colette Kress and Ian Buck as the likeliest short-term choices. Polymarket favored Buck, with Kress second, although Reuters said trading volume remained small.

• Colette Kress: The 59-year-old CFO has served since 2013 after Microsoft, Cisco and Texas Instruments. She appears with Huang on every quarterly results call. Semafor reported that some directors favor her as interim CEO. Citi’s Atif Malik and Papa Sylla see her lead during an external search. eToro analyst Josh Gilbert told Reuters she was the “obvious choice to steady the ship.”
• Ian Buck: Joined Nvidia in 2004, he led CUDA development and now serves as vice president for hyperscale AI products, covering hardware and software. He holds a Stanford PhD. Futurum Equities chief market strategist Shay Boloor calls him the strongest long-term internal candidate for his CUDA work. Nvidia’s filings do not list him as a named executive officer.
• Other internal names: Reuters also mentioned Jeff Fisher, a 32-year Nvidia veteran, and both of Huang’s children, who serve as Nvidia executives. TechCrunch added Andrew Bell, senior vice president of hardware engineering, who reports directly to Huang and joined about 25 years ago after Cornell.
• Huang told Lex Fridman in March that he does not believe in succession planning. He prefers to pass knowledge continuously to roughly 60 direct reports.

Current reporting makes Kress the likely short-term choice and Buck the strongest internal option for a permanent role.

Could an outsider lead Nvidia?

Bloomberg reported that Nvidia has worked with an unnamed outside firm to identify potential replacements. The board is weighing an interim chief executive before choosing a permanent one, suggesting the search extends beyond current executives.

Arm CEO Rene Haas, who previously ran Nvidia’s computing products business, drew the strongest outside support in the reporting. A chip banker told Reuters that Haas made the most logical choice. Reuters received no immediate responses from Kress, Buck or Haas.

TechCrunch also published what it called a highly unscientific list featuring AMD CEO Lisa Su, Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan, Sierra CEO Bret Taylor and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. The outlet doubted Su would leave AMD, and none of the candidates has said anything publicly about the job.

An external search appears underway, but Haas has the clearest reported case among outside executives.

How would the directors choose?

Nvidia has no board chair. Its independent directors designate a Lead Director, currently Stephen Neal, chairman emeritus of law firm Cooley. Every director except Huang is independent, and Huang owns no super-voting shares that could block a vote through ownership.

The independent directors opened an investigation on Nov. 8 and handed it to Joon H. Kim, former acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and his firm, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, on Nov. 10. The board can select a leader without waiting for that investigation to finish.

Reporting points to a two-step handover: an insider likely serves temporarily before a permanent search concludes. Minotaur Capital co-founder Armina Rosenberg proposed a co-CEO structure, with Kress overseeing business and finances and Buck leading product and technology.

The board could also retain Huang as chairman, a role Nvidia does not currently have. The company had not said by Thursday morning whether it would separate the chair and CEO roles.

The directors can change the CEO before the investigation ends, so the succession and governance tracks need not move in lockstep.

What changes for suppliers and customers?

Reuters reported from Taipei and Seoul that Nvidia’s Asian partners are redrawing plans in case Huang leaves. Huang built close ties with TSMC, Foxconn and Wistron, and said in May that Nvidia planned to invest about $150 billion a year in Taiwan.

A Taiwanese supplier executive said the company would support whatever capacity Nvidia needed, but warned that a new CEO might not be as aggressive as Jensen. Counterpoint Research’s Neil Shah said Nvidia would likely see a slowdown in new, aggressive ecosystem-level investments without Huang.

The near-term product roadmap appears protected. Armina Rosenberg told Reuters: “The chips Nvidia will ship over the next year or two are already designed and in production.” On Thursday, TSMC shares fell 2%, SK hynix fell 1.6% and Samsung Electronics rose 0.8%.

Near-term chip shipments look secure, but longer-term supplier and ecosystem spending remains tied to the leadership decision.

What happens at the Nov. 17 earnings call?

Nvidia is scheduled to report fiscal third-quarter results on Nov. 17. If the board acts before then, the call will provide the first chance for new leadership to address investors, although Kress already presents the quarterly numbers.

Dan Ives of Yorkville Ives & Co. estimated Nvidia’s value at $300 per share with Huang as CEO and $225 without him. Those figures represent analyst valuation scenarios, not company guidance. Nvidia shares traded about 5.4% lower in premarket trading Thursday after the company lost roughly $600 billion in market value during the week, according to CNBC and Reuters.

The Nov. 17 results will test whether a leadership transition can preserve Nvidia’s supplier capacity plans and the AI chip shipments already in production, or whether partners will reduce investment under a less aggressive leader.