Who is Nvidia's interim CEO Colette Kress - and who could take over permanently?

An important development from the financial markets: Who is Nvidia's interim CEO Colette Kress - and who could take over permanently? Image source, Bloomberg via Getty Images/ReutersImage caption, Arm's boss Rene Haas (L), Nvidia's Colette Kress (C) and Chris Malachowsky (R) have been named as possible successors ByOsmond ChiaBusiness reporterPublished12 November 2026Nvidia is now facing a scenario few would have considered until very recently - a future without Jensen Huang. The influential co-founder of the AI chip-making giant resigned on Thursday over reports of extramarital affairs, one of which was with a woman suspected of being a Chinese spy.

Chief financial officer Colette Kress is in charge, for now, as the tech giant faces one of its biggest challenges - finding the right person to permanently lead the business that Huang helped create more than three decades ago and turned into one of the world's most valuable companies. We take a look at which candidates have emerged as potential successors. The finance chief Image source, NvidiaImage caption, Colette Kress is chief financial officer at Nvidia Colette Kress has been an industry veteran for more than 30 years, having previously held high positions at tech firms like Cisco and Microsoft.

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Kress, who also serves as Nvidia's executive vice-president, has seen the firm's transformation from making chips for video games in the early 1990s to becoming an AI semiconductor powerhouse. She has "fronted every earnings call" alongside Huang and is a "familiar and trusted voice for the market at a time when it badly needs one," said Josh Gilbert, an analyst at investment firm eToro. But doing the job permanently could be a different story, said Gilbert, as the firm, known for its edge in technology, could want an engineer in the chair.

The co-founder and the engineerImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Chris Malachowsky is one of Nvidia's three co-founders Another option is Chris Malachowsky, who founded Nvidia alongside Huang and Curtis Priem, and is the only executive that shares the same level of seniority. Malachowsky has played a key part in developing the company's computing technology. Ian Buck, who oversees Nvidia's high-performance computing business, has also emerged as a potential candidate if the company is keen to put an engineer in the top job.

Buck was among the early pioneers who helped popularise the use of graphic processors beyond gaming applications. "He could protect Nvidia's technological edge, but his ability to manage the wider commercial relationships and geopolitical challenges would face scrutiny," said Charu Chanana, investment strategist at investment bank Saxo. Today, Nvidia's leading processors are widely regarded as the gold standard for AI development.

Huang's children also work at Nvidia in executive positions but are relatively young and inexperienced.

Financial markets are tracking the development closely as investors assess the likely impact.