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It is reported that Huida’s board of directors is evaluating Huang Renxun’s departure and looking for a successor. Chief Financial Officer Clair may be the first temporary replacement, and long-term candidates include internal managers like Buck.
Huida (NVIDIA ) The Board of Directors is currently meeting online to discuss the CEOJen-Hsun Huang whether to stay or leave, and tasked external industry players with finding a successor. Citing sources, Semaphore reported that some directors preferred to let Chief Financial Officer Colette Cress act as interim CEO before searching for a formal successor. No personnel decisions have been announced yet.
The board of directors is first considering appointing an interim CEO, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The Wall Street Journal previously reported that the board of directors was preparing to replace Huang.
The New York Times, citing people who worked at Huida, reported Wednesday that Huang also dated Kimberly Powell, vice president of the medical business, who reported directly to him.
Business Insider, citing analysts and former employees, listed several potential successors, including Clair and vice president Ian Buck. These are candidates proposed by outside parties and have not yet been confirmed by HUIDA.
Gil Luria, an analyst at DA Davidson, believes that in addition to Huang Renxun, Keres is another well-known executive of Huida, and may temporarily act as CEO after his departure. Keres has been with Huida for 13 years and previously held finance positions at Cisco and Microsoft.
But Corrales lacks the engineering background that Huang relies on to lead Huida. When looking for a long-term successor, Buck is another potential option. He has been with Huida for 22 years and helped develop CUDA. This software is an important foundation for Huida to gain advantages in the field of AI.
Former employees reported that the data center business for which Buck was responsible contributed almost all of Huida’s revenue. Another former employee believes that given Huida’s unique corporate culture, the ideal candidate would be a current supervisor who is familiar with the internal values and ways of working.
Dan Morgan, vice president of Synovus Trust, also believes co-founder Chris Malachowski could play a more significant role in the leadership adjustment.
Outsiders also mentioned Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian and Amazon Cloud Computing Services (AWS) CEO Matt Garman. Both are in charge of large-scale cloud businesses and actively invest in AI infrastructure. They also work closely with Huida and are familiar with customer needs and the technologies that drive Huida’s growth.
Huida has never publicly named Huang’s successor. He adopts a flat organizational structure, with about 60 people reporting directly to him. Daniel Newman, CEO of The Futurum Group, said that this approach worked well when Huang was in office, but it also prevented Futurum from building, testing, or publicly establishing a successor.
Huang Renxun’s two children, Huang Minshan and Huang Shengbin, both work in Huida. A former employee said Huang Minshan, who serves as senior director of physical AI product marketing, has shown greater influence in various enterprises and is preparing for a more important leadership role.
Brad Gastwirth, global head of research at Circular Technology, pointed out that although Huang Renxun owns about 3.6% of Huida’s shares, his voting rights are not enough to control Huida. However, unless the investigation reveals serious misconduct, it is still likely to have a significant impact on succession arrangements.
The dilemma facing the board of directors is that Huang Renxun has led Huida since its establishment, causing the stock price to rise by more than 700,000%, and also made good use of Huida’s resources to invest in the AI supply chain and new entrepreneurs. But if he is allowed to remain in office, the board could face scrutiny from Congress, investors, customers and employees over whether the two relationships involve company secrets or conflicts of interest.
Gesweis believes Huang’s technical expertise, strategic vision and industry connections are nearly impossible to replicate. Huida can still operate even if it replaces people, but whether it can maintain the same innovation and execution speed will be a question.
