The race to find a permanent successor to longtime Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang has reportedly picked up speed, with three Indian-origin technology executives named as possible candidates for one of the most powerful jobs in global tech.
Sanjay Mehrotra, Nikesh Arora and Thomas Kurian are reportedly among those being considered for the top job along with Colette Kress, Ian Buck, Rene Haas, Lisa Su, Pat Gelsinger and Tim Cook. Reuters reports that Nvidia’s board is looking at internal and external candidates as it prepares for a major leadership transition.
The company has appointed its CFO Colette Kress as interim CEO after Huang left. The next chief executive will take over a technology giant at the centre of the artificial intelligence revolution. Nvidia processors power AI infrastructure, data centres and advanced computing systems used by leading companies around the world.
Of the Indian-origin executives being mentioned, Sanjay Mehrotra stands out because of his experience in semiconductors he is chief executive of Micron Technology (one of the world’s largest makers of memory and storage chips), who has led that company since 2017 as it expanded during a period of growing demand for memory products used in AI and advanced computing.
Mehrotra co-founded SanDisk in 1988 before becoming CEO there; his decades of building semiconductor businesses and managing technology operations could make him a candidate for Nvidia’s leadership role. Micron also has business relationships with the wider semiconductor ecosystem (AI infrastructure market where Nvidia plays a major role), but there has been no official confirmation that Mehrotra has been shortlisted or approached for the job.
Another name being mentioned is Nikesh Arora, chairman and CEO of cybersecurity company Palo Alto Networks. Investors have reportedly put Arora’s name forward as a possible candidate for Nvidia CEO. He has led Palo Alto Networks since 2018 and grown it in the rapidly expanding cybersecurity market; he was previously at Google and Japanese investment group SoftBank.
Over his career, he has managed large global technology businesses, made strategic investments and built relationships across the technology industry. His leadership experience could be valuable for a company that scales like Nvidia, but unlike some names being floated, Arora’s background is more cybersecurity, technology services and business management than semiconductor engineering or chip design.
Thomas Kurian, chief executive officer of Google Cloud, is the third Indian-origin technology leader reportedly being considered for the job. Axios reported that Kurian’s name has been mentioned in talks about Nvidia succession plans. He heads Google Cloud's cloud infrastructure, enterprise software and services supporting artificial intelligence applications.
Before joining Google in 2018, Kurian spent more than two decades at Oracle in various senior management roles, so his experience managing large-scale technology platforms, enterprise customers and global operations could be relevant to Nvidia as it expands its AI computing ecosystem further. Kurian does not have a traditional semiconductor chip design background but understands cloud computing and enterprise technology, so his leadership perspective may be different; he’s also close to where demand for AI infrastructure (one of Nvidia’s most important business areas) is growing.
Several senior executives at Nvidia are also said to be part of the wider succession discussion. Colette Kress, interim CEO and CFO, is one such potential internal candidate (she joined Nvidia in 2013 and has been a key driver of finances, investor relations and business strategy during Nvidia’s rapid growth). She knows Nvidia well, and how investors view it, so if the board wants an internal successor, she may have that advantage.
Ian Buck, Nvidia vice-president of hyperscale and high-performance computing, is another name being mentioned. He joined in 2004 and was closely associated with CUDA (Nvidia’s software platform which turned graphics processors from gaming applications into general-purpose computers) development and expansion. Technical expertise and long association with the company could make him a potential leader.
Rene Haas, chief executive of British chip designer Arm, has also been mentioned as a possible successor. Haas worked at Nvidia for several years in senior roles in the computing products business before moving to Arm. Other semiconductor industry leaders mentioned in succession talks are Lisa Su (CEO of AMD), Pat Gelsinger (former Intel CEO) and Matt Murphy (chief executive of Marvell Technology).
Their chip manufacturing, semiconductor architecture and technology leadership experience could be useful as Nvidia faces increasing competition in the global AI hardware market. Johny Srouji is Apple’s senior vice-president of hardware technologies. He has led development of Apple’s in-house processors (chips powering iPhones, iPads and Mac computers). Former Apple CEO Tim Cook has also appeared in reports about possible candidates, with US President Donald Trump reportedly favouring him for the position.
The search for Huang’s successor is all the more important because Nvidia has become one of the biggest companies in the global technology industry. Its graphics processing units are used to train and run advanced AI models, and its software ecosystem has given it a strong position in the AI computing market.
Whoever takes over will have to keep Nvidia’s technological edge intact (it faces competition from AMD and other chipmakers too), geopolitical tensions, export restrictions and growing scrutiny over huge investments in artificial intelligence; he or she will need to maintain relationships with major customers (cloud providers and technology companies) as well as guide long-term product and business strategy.
Nvidia’s board hasn’t announced yet that it has found a permanent successor, but names floating around in media reports should be treated as potential contenders rather than confirmed finalists. The fact that three Indian-origin executives were mentioned in the reported discussions has raised further awareness of how global Indian-origin leaders influence tech.
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