NVIDIA SEARCHING HUANG’S SUCCESSORS: 3 INDIANS AMONG 11 NAMES

NEW DELHI: Nvidia has started the search for a permanent successor to its long-time chief executive, Jensen Huang, who resigned amid scrutiny over reports of multiple extramarital affairs, including with a suspected Chinese spy, which has now thrust the chipmaker into an uncertain future.

The chipmaker said its board is open to insider and outsider candidates to take on the daunting task of succeeding the man who transformed Nvidia into an AI powerhouse. Analysts and investors want the person who would inherit one of the world’s most valuable companies to be someone who understands the tech, has vision and possesses acumen in finance, since the company has been a major investor in the AI boom, as well as a manufacturer.

Experience running a massive company is a likely requirement to navigate regulatory scrutiny, geopolitical tensions and the economic upheaval unleashed by the AI boom.

Nvidia has named CFO Colette Kress as the interim CEO following Huang’s departure, as its board considers other candidates, among which there are reportedly three Indian-origin candidates.

The potential successors to Huang are:

Sanjay Mehrotra, chief executive of memory chip maker Micron, who has over four decades of experience and has worked closely with Nvidia, which uses Micron products, is one of the possible candidates for Nvidia’s top job.

Mehrotra has led the largest US memory chipmaker since 2017 and helped drive its transformation into a key supplier for AI systems. Before joining Micron, Mehrotra co-founded flash-memory pioneer SanDisk in 1988 and remained with the company until its 2016 sale. He served as chief executive from 2011, helping build SanDisk into a Fortune 500 semiconductor company.

Under Mehrotra, Micron has deepened ties with Nvidia and pivoted toward high-bandwidth memory chips used in AI servers. The shift helped propel the company to a roughly $1 trillion valuation as demand for AI infrastructure surged.

Nikesh Arora

the Palo Alto Networks CEO, is also being considered as a potential successor, with The Economic Times reporting that investors have floated his name.

Arora, who has led Palo Alto Networks since 2018, has overseen the company’s expansion into AI-powered cybersecurity. He has previously also served as president and chief operating officer of SoftBank and worked for a decade at Google, per his official biography.

However, his experience is largely in cybersecurity and other areas of tech, rather than chip development.

Thomas Kurian, the Google Cloud CEO, could also be considered for Nvidia’s top job, according to an Axios report.

At Google, Kurian oversees cloud infrastructure, enterprise software and AI services, giving him experience with major customers and technology essential to Nvidia’s business. However, his resume also does not feature chip design experience.

Besides these Indians, other probables are:

Colette Kress, Nvidia veteran who was named interim CEO, is also a potential candidate for the top job, according to a Reuters news report. Her experience, authority and deep relationship with Wall Street make her a good choice to steer the company through crisis, analysts and investors have said.

Kress has been Nvidia’s CFO since 2013. Before that, she had a long career at major tech companies including Microsoft, Cisco and chip company Texas Instruments. A big question would be who fills the role of tech visionary if she runs the company.

Nvidia’s vice president of hyperscale and high-performance computing, Ian Buck, is also a frontrunner for the job. Buck, who joined in 2004, was a leader in developing the technology that turned Nvidia from a company focused on video game chips into the biggest force in AI hardware. He did that by helping lead development of CUDA, the software platform that enabled general-purpose computing on Nvidia’s graphics processors. Buck also works closely with big customers as manager of Nvidia AI hardware and software products.

Arm CEO Rene Haas is also a potential candidate. Haas spent seven formative years at Nvidia, rising to vice president and general manager of its computing products business, before joining Arm in 2013. He became CEO in 2022, overseeing the British chipmaker’s Nasdaq listing in 2023.

Pat Gelsinger, who led an ambitious effort to turn around Intel, is also a potential candidate. Gelsinger left Intel in 2024 after fewer than four years, as the changes struggled to gain traction.

Lisa Su, who leads one of Nvidia’s top rivals, AMD, is also a potential candidate. If she replaced Huang, the move would represent a major disruption for AMD and a shift felt across the industry. Su and Huang were both born in Taiwan, and they have claimed each other as a distant relative.

Matt Murphy, chief executive of custom chipmaker Marvell Technology, is another potential candidate. Murphy has emerged as a prominent figure in the AI infrastructure boom, working closely with Nvidia while helping cloud giants develop custom chips intended to reduce reliance on Nvidia processors.

Johny Srouji, the chief hardware officer at Apple, is also among the frontrunners. Srouji oversees engineering of all hardware at the only company worth more than Nvidia — Apple. His remit includes microchips, cellular modems, displays, cameras and batteries inside its devices, and he reports to CEO John Ternus, who succeeded Tim Cook in September.

Tim Cook, the former Apple CEO, is US President Donald Trump’s top choice for the job. Cook succeeded in the difficult task of leading Apple after co-founder Steve Jobs died in 2011, so picking up the reins from a legend is on his resume.

Over a 15-year stint as CEO, he took the company to a massive $4.5 trillion market capitalisation from $350 billion. Apple today is the only company worth more than Nvidia.

Cook doubled down on using China as Apple’s main manufacturing base, which delivered massive efficiency gains but exposed the company to risks, especially as Trump hiked tariffs. He also cultivated Trump, staying in regular touch with him by phone and joining private dinners with the president and others.