Nvidia Can Thrive Without Jensen Huang; Tae Kim Backs Rene Haas, Ian Buck as Successors

Nvidia can continue to thrive without its long-time chief executive Jensen Huang, provided the company chooses the right successor, according to Tae Kim, author of The Nvidia Way. Kim has identified Arm CEO Rene Haas and Nvidia Vice President Ian Buck as two potential candidates to lead the chipmaker through a leadership transition.

In a post titled "Jensen Huang Resigns. Who Should Replace Him to Keep Nvidia Successful?", published on his Substack newsletter Key Context on November 12, Kim argued that Nvidia's future does not depend entirely on its co-founder and that the company has a strong pool of executives capable of taking over.

"I don't believe Nvidia's story is over. The company has a deep bench of talent that does the work and I now believe it can continue to thrive under a new CEO. But it has to be the right leader. In my view, there are only two choices," Kim wrote.

His assessment comes amid speculation about Nvidia's leadership succession and questions over whether the company can maintain its dominance in artificial intelligence and accelerated computing without Huang at the helm.

RENE HAAS: THE OUTSIDER WITH NVIDIA EXPERIENCE

Kim's first choice is Rene Haas, the chief executive of Arm, who previously worked at Nvidia. He said Haas combines technical knowledge with business management experience and the public-facing skills required to lead a global technology company.

Kim also pointed to Haas's familiarity with Nvidia's senior leadership and his reputation among former colleagues.

"He has proven very successful outside Nvidia with a strong grasp of technology, a public-facing CEO skill set, and well-regarded business management experience," Kim wrote. He added that former Nvidia employees he had spoken to "loved working for him".

Kim described Haas as a strong choice because of his experience both within Nvidia and at another major semiconductor company.

IAN BUCK: THE ARCHITECT OF CUDA

Kim's second candidate is Ian Buck, Nvidia's vice president of hyperscale and high-performance computing. Buck is credited with inventing CUDA, Nvidia's parallel computing platform, which has become central to its AI and accelerated computing ecosystem.

"As the inventor of CUDA, Ian is one of the most important figures in Nvidia's history," Kim wrote.

Buck currently oversees Nvidia's AI hardware and software products deployed with hyperscalers and other customers. Kim argued that his understanding of the company's technology, business operations and customer relationships makes him a credible successor.

He said Buck has "the engineering knowledge, experience, close data center customer relationships, and employee respect needed to lead Nvidia into its next chapter".

RETAINING ENGINEERING TALENT IS KEY

Beyond the choice of chief executive, Kim stressed that Nvidia would need to retain its senior engineering leadership to maintain its technological edge.

He singled out Jonah Alben, Nvidia's senior vice president of GPU engineering, as particularly important to the company's long-term AI GPU roadmap.

Kim said retaining both Buck and Alben would help ensure continuity in Nvidia's technology strategy.

"With Ian and Jonah, Nvidia's long-term technology roadmap will stay intact," he wrote.

Kim's latest assessment also marks a shift from his earlier views on Nvidia's dependence on Huang. Addressing readers who had cited his book as evidence that the company could not succeed without its founder, he said his thinking had evolved over the years.

With inputs from ANI