AMD’s Lisa Su among possible Nvidia CEO successors

AMD CEO Lisa Su, who is a distant relative of Jensen Huang, appears on Bloomberg's list of executives who could replace him at Nvidia ↗ 2.87%. The list comes as the chipmaker's board weighs whether to remove its co-founder over reports of extramarital affairs. There is no reporting that Su has held talks with Nvidia, and some outlets say it is unlikely she would leave Advanced Micro Devices ↗ 7.32% for its main rival.

Bloomberg reported that Nvidia has hired an outside firm to find potential candidates. Its rundown describes Su as head of "the closest competitor to Nvidia," a company whose stock has risen nearly 170-fold under her leadership but which is still a fraction of Nvidia's size. TechCrunch said Su and Intel ↗ 7.52% CEO Lip-Bu Tan could be considered but are unlikely choices, Seoul Economic Daily reported.bloomberg.com+2

A wide field of names

Bloomberg's list also includes Apple ↗ 2.04% hardware chief Johny Srouji, who built the iPhone maker's in-house chip program, and Arm Holdings ↗ 12.05% CEO Rene Haas, who previously worked at Nvidia. It also names Amazon Amazon.com, Inc. ↘ 1.74% Web Services chief Matt Garman and Micron ↗ 11.89% CEO Sanjay Mehrotra. Among Nvidia's own executives, CFO Colette Kress is seen as a possible interim chief. Ian Buck, who created the CUDA software platform, is another internal option. Semafor reported that some directors favor Kress for the interim role.bloomberg.com+1

Su and Huang are first cousins once removed, according to a Taiwanese genealogist who traced the family tree for CNN. An Nvidia spokesperson also confirmed the link. Su has said the two first met at an industry event well into their careers. "No family dinners," she told Bloomberg in 2024, as Moneywise recounted.moneywise.com

Board weighs Huang's future

Nvidia's board met late on Wednesday, Nov. 11, to decide whether to remove Huang. Under the company's bylaws, a majority of its 11 directors can do so "with or without cause," Reuters reported. As of Thursday morning, Nvidia had not announced any outcome.koreatimes.co.kr+1

The crisis began with Huang's admitted relationship with Alice Huang, a former executive at data-center company Megaspeed whom U.S. officials suspect of being a Chinese agent. A New York Times report later described a second relationship, this one with an Nvidia executive. Beijing has rejected the spying allegations.wsvn.com+1

No obvious heir

Nvidia's shares fell after The Wall Street Journal News Corp ↗ 0.40% reported that the company was preparing to fire Huang. The 63-year-old has no obvious successor, and Nvidia is due to report quarterly results on Nov. 17. Huang told Bloomberg in 2023 that "for as long as I'm running it, that's all that matters".miamiherald.com+1

"The market is starting to price Nvidia without its founder as the likely outcome, not a tail risk," Minotaur Capital's Armina Rosenberg told Reuters.miamiherald.com