Who would be next CEO at Nvidia? Top engineer and CFO favored as candidates

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SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has never anointed a successor, but many analysts and investors see two people as particularly likely candidates, at…

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has never anointed a successor, but many analysts and investors see two people as particularly likely candidates, at least for the short term: Nvidia's uber-engineer Ian Buck and Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress.

Nvidia's board is meeting on Wednesday to decide whether to oust Huang, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters, as the world's dominant supplier of AI processors grapples with reports of two extramarital affairs involving its longtime leader. Nvidia did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the board meeting.

Huang isn't the usual CEO. He is a charismatic, leather-jacket-wearing apostle of Nvidia chips who built the company on processors for video games, transformed it into an artificial intelligence machine, and, in turn, created the most valuable company in the world.

"Jensen Huang is a rockstar in the industry. He’s outspoken and synonymous with the Nvidia brand, and a leader like that is very hard to replace," said Anna Wu, founder of Floodlines Research in Sydney.

That fear has contributed to a $600 billion selloff of Nvidia's shares this week, now making it the world's second-most valuable company.

On Wednesday, speculation on who might be tapped if Huang is ousted ranged from a leader of a rival chip giant, such as Arm chief Rene Haas, and 32-year Nvidia veteran Jeff Fisher, to one of Huang's two children, both of whom are executives at Nvidia.

One of the simplest ways to fill the void, some analysts said, would be to turn to the person who has joined Huang in quarterly results calls: CFO Kress. Kress, who is 59, joined Nvidia in 2013 after a long career at other tech industry giants including Microsoft, Cisco and chip maker Texas Instruments. Some members of Nvidia’s board favor appointing her as interim CEO, Semafor reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

"Colette Kress is the obvious choice to steady the ship.

But he added, "The permanent job is a different…

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