Who will succeed Jensen Huang at Nvidia? Analysts weigh in.
Jensen Huang abruptly resigned as Nvidia's CEO on Thursday following reports of his relationship with a woman suspected to be a Chinese spy, leaving the chipmaker to search for a successor to lead its $4 trillion business.
The board's announcement confirmed that Colette Kress, Nvidia's chief financial officer, will serve as interim CEO until a permanent replacement is selected. Huang, 63, had led Nvidia since co-founding the business more than three decades ago, stepping down after reports of his relationship with a woman suspected to be a Chinese spy.
Huang's resignation leaves a major leadership vacuum for a company responsible for supplying nearly the entire market share of chips needed to power frontier artificial intelligence models. The CEO had more than 60 direct reports, giving him extraordinary control over the company's decisions.
Search for successor
Nvidia's board is expected to take its time choosing Huang's successor, who will lead the world's second-most valuable company by market capitalization. Experts believe finding an executive with both engineering and leadership skills to replace Huang could require an extensive search.
If they name somebody quickly, I think it'd be a mistake.
While Wall Street analysts consider Kress a solid interim choice, they don't believe she'll be selected as permanent CEO. Prediction markets give Kress roughly a one-in-five chance of succeeding Huang.
Potential candidates
Among the top external candidates is Tim Cook, Apple's executive chairman who served as Apple CEO for 15 years before stepping down in September 2026. President Trump endorsed Cook for the job in a Truth Social post, calling him a legend.
Other contenders include Nikesh Arora, CEO of Palo Alto Networks, and Johny Srouji, Apple's chief hardware officer. Internally, Ian Buck, Nvidia's vice president of data center unit, is seen as a strong candidate due to his role in developing CUDA, the software platform crucial for AI model training.
Rene Haas, CEO of British semiconductor company Arm and former Nvidia executive, has also been floated as a possibility. Analysts note his solid grasp of the chip industry and design expertise as valuable assets for the role.
Market predictions
Prediction markets are divided on who might succeed Huang. On Kalshi, Ian Buck leads with 35% chance, followed by Colette Kress at 22% and Rene Haas at 9%. Polymarket traders, however, favor Tim Cook with nearly 50% of bets, followed by Ian Buck at 32%.
The board's decision will come after careful consideration of both internal and external candidates, with analysts emphasizing the need for a leader who can maintain Nvidia's innovative edge in the competitive AI chip market.
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