Jensen Huang's abrupt resignation on Thursday as Nvidia's CEO leaves the chipmaker searching for a successor who can replace an executive synonymous with the artificial intelligence boom and who is credited with transforming the company into a $4 trillion behemoth.
The board's announcement of Huang's departure said that Colette Kress, the company's chief financial officer, will serve as interim CEO until it selects a permanent replacement. The board "will consider internal and external candidates," the statement said.
Jensen, 63, had led Nvidia since co-founding the business more than three decades ago, but stepped down following reports of his relationship with a woman suspected to be a Chinese spy. The CEO had more than 60 direct reports, giving him extraordinary control over the company's decisions.
His resignation leaves a major leadership vacuum for a company that's responsible for supplying nearly the entire market share of chips needed to power frontier artificial intelligence models.
"The trouble is, I don't know that you can find anyone within Nvidia that has the sort of purview that Jensen has," Patrick Magee, a contributing writer for the Free Press and author of the book "Apple in China: The Capture of the World's Greatest Company," told CBS News on Thursday. "I mean, this was an organization set up for him to run the next 20 years, as he said in the summer."
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. Finding an executive with both the engineering and leadership skills to replace Huang could require an extensive search, experts said.
"If they name somebody quickly, I think it'd be a mistake," Cody Acree, a senior semiconductor research analyst at StoneX, a financial services company, told CBS News.
While Wall Street analysts told CBS News that Kress is a solid choice for interim CEO, they don't believe she'll be selected as a permanent replacement for Huang. Even so, prediction markets are giving Kress a roughly one-in-five chance of succeeding Huang.
"We expect a more comprehensive search that will include internal and external candidates and that Ms. Kress will only serve on an interim basis," Gil Luria, managing director of the investment bank D.A. Davidson & Co., said in an email.
As the board deliberates, Wall Street analysts and traders on prediction-market platforms are throwing out names of possible successors. Here are some of the people who have surfaced so far.
Tim Cook, Apple executive chairman
Among the top external candidates to replace Huang is Tim Cook, Apple's executive chairman. Cook served as Apple CEO for 15 years before stepping down in September of this year.
"Tim Cook is the one that checks every box," Yorkville Ives tech analyst Dan Ives told CBS News.
President Trump endorsed Cook for the job in a Truth Social post on Thursday, calling him a legend.
"NOW THAT Nvidia CEO JENSEN HUANG, who has done a fantastic job, has resigned, there is only one man to take his place - TIM COOK of Apple," Mr. Trump wrote.
If selected, Cook, 66, would have to step down from Apple, a company he's worked at for nearly 30 years, due to possible conflicts of interest.
Nikesh Arora, CEO of Palo Alto Networks
The CEO of the multinational cybersecurity company is another possible contender, Ives told CBS News in an email.
Arora's career has spanned multiple decades and includes stints at Google, SoftBank Group Corp, a Japanese multinational investment holding company, and T-Mobile.
Arora recently commented on how hard it is to find compute in today's world and the central role Nvidia plays in supplying chips.
"You can make any plans you want, but those plans are, you know, you talk to Jensen, he can't give you chips till 2028," he said last month on the "All-in" podcast hosted by venture capitalists, including David Sacks, a key adviser to President Trump on technology.
Ian Buck, Nvidia computing executive
Bret Kenwell, an investment analyst at eToro, told CBS News the board will likely want a technology leader to lead the company.
That could lead them to consider Ian Buck, an Nvidia executive who currently serves as the vice president of the company's data center unit, he said.
Acree agreed, telling CBS News, "Ian makes the most sense internally."
Buck, who oversees Nvidia's AI hardware and software products, joined the company in 2004, according to his company profile. He invented CUDA, Nvidia's software platform that lets developers use its graphics chips for tasks such as training AI models, making him an integral part of the company's technological advancement.
"I imagine they'll want to keep that innovative, product/technology-type leader at the top," Kenwell told CBS News in a text message.
Johny Srouji, Apple's chief hardware officer
Tim Cook is not the only Apple employee seen as a contender for the role. Magee told CBS News on Wednesday that his bet is on Apple's chief hardware officer, Johny Srouji.
"I could see him wanting that role," Magee said. "He's someone that's been floated. But you're not going to be able to get someone with that caliber in, you know, a 72-hour period, maybe even a 12-hour period."
Semafor on Wednesday reported that Srouji is among the replacements the board is considering, citing a person familiar with the matter.
Rene Haas, CEO of Arm
Rene Haas, the CEO of Arm, a British semiconductor manufacturing company, is another name floated by analysts.
Acree said Haas has a solid grasp of the chip industry, something the board will be seeking out as it considers candidates. He's also a former Nvidia employee, working as the vice president and general manager of its computing products business before joining Arm in 2013.
"It's not a perfect fit by any means, but he definitely has the design expertise to run a technical organization like Nvidia," he told CBS News.
What do the prediction markets say?
On Thursday morning, traders on prediction markets were casting their own bets on who Nvidia's board may tap to lead the company.
On Kalshi's "Who will be the next CEO of Nvidia" market, Ian Buck was the top contender, with traders there predicting a 35% chance he'll be selected as the next leader. Colette Kress has a 22% chance, and Rene Haas has a likelihood of 9%, according to predictions from Kalshi traders.
Polymarket traders, by contrast, are betting that Tim Cook will succeed Huang. Nearly 50% of traders believe the former Apple CEO will take over as Nvidia's permanent CEO, followed by 32% who think it will be Ian Buck, 24% who believe it could be Kress and 9.2% who think it will be Haas.