AMD’s Lisa Su floated as Nvidia CEO after Huang resigns

AMD chief executive Lisa Su has emerged as one of the outside names floated to lead Nvidia after Jensen Huang resigned on Thursday, November 12. Nvidia's board said Huang stepped down as president, CEO and director effective immediately. Chief financial officer Colette Kress will serve as interim CEO, and the board will consider internal and external candidates for the permanent job. Investors, meanwhile, have been buying shares of Su's company. Advanced Micro Devices has gained more than 30 percent in recent days on bets that it will benefit from Nvidia's turmoil, The Washington Post reported.investor.nvidia.com+1

Huang left after reports of two extramarital affairs. One was with a woman U.S. intelligence agencies suspect was an agent for Beijing, and the other was with an Nvidia employee (The Wall Street Journal, Politico). Nvidia shares fell sharply on Thursday after the announcement.politico.com+2

A family tie and a rival's résumé

Su and Huang are related. The Post calls them first cousins, while Semafor and The Independent describe Su as a first cousin once removed. Both were born in Taiwan and became chip engineers in the United States. Su joined AMD in 2012 and became CEO in 2014. The Independent pointed to her turnaround of AMD and her experience in AI chips as reasons she might suit the role. Forbes noted that The Information was among the first outlets to float her name.semafor.com+3

Su remains a long shot by several measures. Prediction-market data compiled by The Action Network gave her about a 2.4 percent implied chance, well behind Nvidia's Ian Buck and Kress.uk.finance.yahoo.com

Arm's Haas and other contenders

Arm Holdings CEO Rene Haas spent seven years at Nvidia before taking over at Arm. The Financial Times identified him and Su as possible external choices, though neither has been confirmed as a candidate. A banker who works on chip deals told Reuters that Haas made the most "logical sense". Tae Kim, author of "The Nvidia Way," said the board should focus on just two people, Haas and Buck.economictimes.com+2

Other names have come up as well. They include Apple hardware chief Johny Srouji, Nvidia co-founder Chris Malachowsky, and former Apple CEO Tim Cook, whom President Trump suggested.bbc.co.uk+1

Kress faces her first big test soon. She is scheduled to lead Nvidia's quarterly earnings report on Tuesday, November 17. New board chair Harvey Jones said he expects "the company's operations, customer commitments and product roadmap to continue without interruption".abc.net.au+1