The immediate question facing investors and analysts is no longer just about the departure, but the succession. Nvidia, now valued at $3.83 trillion, has never had a CEO other than its founder. The company has never named a formal successor. “Mr. Huang being removed immediately could be challenging for Nvidia since it does not have a succession plan in place,” Gil Luria of D.A. Davidson told Reuters on Wednesday. In the absence of a designated heir, one name has emerged repeatedly among those familiar with the company’s inner workings: Ian Buck.
Buck is not a peripheral figure. He has been at Nvidia for about two decades and currently runs the hyperscale and high-performance computing business, the segment responsible for selling to the giant cloud and AI customers whose data center spending propelled Nvidia to the top of the chipmaking world. His technical pedigree is foundational to the company’s current dominance. As a Stanford Ph.D. student, Buck helped build Brook, one of the first programming languages for running general computing work on graphics chips. At Nvidia, he became a key architect of CUDA, the software platform that allows developers to write programs for Nvidia’s chips.
CUDA is widely regarded as Nvidia’s primary competitive moat. Millions of developers write code for this platform, and that code does not run on rival chips without significant modification. This technical barrier creates a sticky customer base that is difficult for competitors to dislodge. Because Buck helped design the very infrastructure that locks in Nvidia’s customers, he possesses a unique understanding of the company’s technical assets that goes beyond financial metrics.
The endorsement for Buck as a successor has come from various corners of the tech and investment worlds. Dennis Hong, a robotics engineer, wrote on X on Wednesday afternoon: “It’s probably going to be Ian Buck… Been there for two decades and a key architect of CUDA. Arguably the most interesting and probable candidate because he understands the technology moat, and not just the financial model.”
The authors behind Yale’s CEO leadership forums went further in an essay published in Time on Wednesday evening. They described Buck as “an admired tech superstar” with “strong relationships with NVIDIA’s largest customers.” They argued that he “would be a hugely strong replacement who brings the right technical expertise, customer relationships, experience, and employee relationships for the role,” noting that he has garnered influential endorsements from key commentators, including Jim Cramer. International Business Times reported on Monday that Buck has been mentioned in outside successor discussions specifically because of his technical background and his experience running the accelerated computing business.
While Buck is the leading internal candidate, he is not the only name in the conversation. Colette Kress, Nvidia’s chief financial officer since 2013, is the executive investors know best. The same Time essay suggested that Kress and Buck could potentially share the role as interim co-CEOs. However, analysts quoted by Axios noted that Kress’s background in finance makes her a less natural fit for the heavy technical responsibility that has defined Huang’s tenure. Outside the company, The Information floated the names of AMD CEO Lisa Su and Arm CEO Rene Haas. Hiring either would mean bringing in the chief of a direct rival or a key supplier, a strategy that carries its own complexities. The Time essay also cited Tim Cook and Eric Schmidt as examples of outside leaders who have successfully steadied companies after famous founders departed.
The urgency of this decision is underscored by the potential financial impact of a leadership vacuum. Dan Ives of Yorkville Ives estimated that Nvidia would be worth 25% to 30% less without Huang. At the current after-hours price, this discrepancy represents roughly $958 billion to $1,150 billion in market value. A successor who is already trusted by the market on both technical and customer-relationship fronts is the most direct way to mitigate this loss. Baird analysts wrote on Wednesday that a CEO change is growing more likely and that they would favor an outside hire, though the board has not yet indicated its final decision or designated any executive as a replacement.
Historical precedents suggest that the speed of the transition may be as critical as the identity of the successor. When McDonald’s fired CEO Steve Easterbrook in 2019, it named his successor in the same announcement, and the stock was up 14.7% a year later. Conversely, when Intel’s Brian Krzanich resigned in 2018 with no successor ready, the company ran on an interim CEO for seven months and trailed the S&P 500 by 17 points over the following year. For Nvidia holders, the board’s ability to quickly name a credible leader—whether that is Ian Buck, an outside hire, or a co-CEO arrangement—will likely determine how much of the company’s valuation can be preserved in the weeks to come.
