Speculation mounts over possible successors to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's future at the company is in doubt, with prediction market Kalshi giving him only a 30% chance of surviving the week. Huang has admitted to an extramarital affair, though it is not clear whether the other person is Alice Huang, a Chinese executive suspected by U.S. intelligence of spying, or Kimberly Powell, an Nvidia executive who reports to him. Five sources told The New York Times that Powell was also involved.

Even if Huang is removed as CEO, the board may keep him on as chairman, a role that does not currently exist at Nvidia. But the company has no apparent succession plan, leading to widespread speculation about who could take over.

Potential candidates include AMD CEO Lisa Su, who runs Nvidia's most credible rival and is a distant cousin of Huang. However, AMD could benefit from Nvidia's distractions, making a move unlikely. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt has been suggested by Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, senior associate dean for leadership studies at the Yale School of Management, but Schmidt's own history of extramarital dalliances may be a liability. Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan knows the chip industry and might welcome a soft landing from Intel's recent stock troubles.

Other names in the mix include Bret Taylor, former Salesforce co-CEO and OpenAI board chair who now runs AI startup Sierra; Nvidia VP Ian Buck, who helped develop CUDA, the chip software central to Nvidia's dominance in AI; and Andrew Bell, Nvidia's senior vice president of hardware engineering. Nvidia CFO Colette Kress is often mentioned by analysts but may not be seen as a natural successor as an innovator and visionary. A wild card is Lori Huang, Jensen's wife, a former Silicon Graphics microchip engineer who now co-leads the family trusts.