Nvidia Succession Race: Kress, Buck and Apple's Srouji in the Frame

Nvidia must replace Jensen Huang, and the chip maker has no succession plan to fall back on. Huang ran the company like a one-man show, and his resignation leaves a gap that no ready-made candidate can fill. Speculation about his successor now covers internal managers and a short list of outside executives, including one from Apple.

Huang never regulated his own succession. The entire company revolved around a CEO who staged himself like a rock star. Observers consider him almost irreplaceable, both personally and strategically. That is the mechanism behind the current turmoil, and it explains why the board faces a hard choice.

Who are the internal candidates?

The obvious solution is already in place. CFO Colette Kress holds the interim leadership, assigned by the board. She is a tech veteran, knows the company inside out, and offers investors a familiar face. That serves the short-term goal of calming a nervous stock market. But Nvidia is a technology company, and the board may prefer an engineer.

That points to Ian Buck. He serves as Vice President for Hyperscale and High-Performance Computing at Nvidia. Buck has spent years at the company and helped build its most successful current products. Some observers consider a dual leadership structure possible, pairing a business lead with a technical one.

Which external names are circulating?

The external list carries well-known names. It includes Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan, AMD CEO Lisa Su, and ARM chief Rene Haas, who spent seven years of his career at Nvidia. Managers from Amazon and Google also appear in the discussion. According to Bloomberg, Nvidia has engaged an external executive search firm for the process.

One name draws particular attention. According to Semafor, citing an unnamed source, Apple hardware chief Johny Srouji has better chances than the man betting markets and US President Donald Trump currently favor: former Apple CEO and current Executive Chairman Tim Cook. Observers rate Cook unlikely. Reports say Intel already considered Srouji for its CEO post in 2019. The success of the Apple Silicon chips he helped develop in a leading role has likely raised his market value further.

Srouji was born in Haifa, Israel, in 1964 and studied computer science there. He worked for IBM from 1990 to 1992 and again from 2005 to 2008, with a stint at Intel in between. Apple's former hardware chief Bob Mansfield hired him in March 2008, where he worked on Apple's first in-house chip design. Apple promoted him into the leadership team as Senior Vice President Hardware Technologies in 2015. When hardware chief John Ternus rose to Apple CEO — announced in April, completed in September — Srouji climbed with him. On April 20, Apple named him Chief Hardware Officer with immediate effect.

What about a December exit rumor?

A media report in December 2025 claimed Srouji was considering a departure and had told then-CEO Tim Cook so. The report was quickly denied, at least indirectly. According to one account, Srouji told employees he did not plan to leave in the near future.

A family succession also looks unlikely, even though Huang ran Nvidia like a principality. His two children both work in middle management at their father's company. Huang himself ruled that out a few weeks ago. He stressed that the top job at Nvidia must be earned.

What does this change for Nvidia?

The decision shapes the company's direction for years. An internal pick like Kress signals continuity. An external hire, especially an engineer such as Srouji, would bring fresh technical leadership but integration risk. Either way, the board must now pay the price for years of dependence on one man.