Three Israelis are among the executives being floated as possible successors to Jensen Huang, who resigned as Nvidia CEO this week amid a scandal over an affair with a suspected Chinese spy.
Nvidia announced on Thursday that Huang, 63, had stepped down after 33 years at the helm. CFO Colette Kress will serve as interim chief executive until a permanent successor has been named.
Huang admitted last week to an affair with Alice Huang, a Megaspeed executive reportedly believed by U.S. intelligence to be a Chinese spy. The pressure on him mounted after reports of further affairs, including one with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia's vice president of healthcare, who reported directly to him. China has denied the espionage allegations.
No obvious heir
The company has no clear successor. Huang famously delegates very little and has about 60 direct reports, and the company has not had an obvious successor or a succession plan. His children, Spencer and Madison, both work at Nvidia but are considered too young and inexperienced to take over.
Kress herself may not stay in the role. According to The Wall Street Journal, Huang once lashed out at her in a meeting with the finance department, and he was reportedly not confident in her as his successor.
The Israeli contenders
Michael Kagan, Nvidia's chief technology officer, co-founded Mellanox, which Nvidia acquired in 2020 for about $6.9 billion. Kagan, 69, washed dishes to pay for his Technion degree. He is one of the few executives who enjoyed both Huang's full professional trust and a close personal relationship with him. In a September interview with Israel Hayom, he described the management culture Huang built: "We don't fire people for a professional mistake."
Eyal Waldman, Mellanox's founder and former CEO, sold the company to Nvidia. Unlike Kagan, who comes mainly from engineering, Waldman has already shown he can run an international public company, develop products and lead major deals.
Johny Srouji, Apple's senior vice president of hardware technologies, is considered the company's number two. Srouji is an Arab Israeli, born and raised in Haifa to a Christian Arab family.
The other names
Inside Nvidia, the leading candidates are Kress and Ian Buck, inventor of the CUDA platform. Outside candidates include AMD CEO Lisa Su, one of Nvidia's biggest competitors and a distant relative of Huang, and Arm CEO Rene Haas, who previously held a senior role at Nvidia. According to the Financial Times, Nvidia's board has approached Haas in its search for a successor.
What it means for Israel
Huang's departure has raised concern in Israel, where Nvidia has become one of the economy's main growth engines. The company employs almost 6,000 people across Israel, with two major development centers in Yokneam and Tel Aviv. By some estimates, without Nvidia's contribution, Israel's economic growth in 2025 would have been cut to about 2.1%, compared with the actual 3.5%.
Huang was considered a staunch supporter of Israel and made it one of the company's largest centers. When Nvidia employee Avinatan Or was released from Hamas captivity, Huang wrote to staff that he was "deeply moved." Ynet warned that his fall could delay Nvidia's plans for a giant campus in northern Israel, which is expected to employ about 6,000 workers.
Kress, for her part, is no stranger to Israel. She coordinates Nvidia's activity in the country, and she once said her day begins with meetings with Israel.
Turmoil inside the company
Hundreds of Nvidia employees have signed an internal petition demanding that the board bring Huang back. "If you believe in the mission, bring back the boss," one wrote. Calcalist warned that the company could lose key engineers: about 70% of Nvidia's employees have become millionaires as the stock soared, and some may leave or follow Huang to his next venture.
Huang has supporters outside the company too. Elon Musk, responding to a post urging him to hire Huang, wrote: "It would be a great honor." Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney warned that ousting Huang would be as foolish as Apple's firing of Steve Jobs.
Meanwhile, the espionage case continues. The Justice Department is looking into whether organizations associated with Alice Huang were involved in diverting Super Micro's AI hardware to China.
Since the scandal broke, Nvidia's stock has fallen about 30%, from around $240 to roughly $159. The company reports its quarterly results on Tuesday, November 17, its first major test under new leadership.
