Nvidia Executive Ian Buck Emerges as Potential Successor to Jensen Huang

With Jensen Huang no longer serving as Nvidia’s CEO and CFO Colette Kress leading the company on an interim basis, investors, customers and industry partners are watching for signs of who will become the chipmaker’s next permanent leader.

Nvidia executive Ian Buck is among the potential candidates being discussed as the company searches for a permanent successor to Jensen Huang. [Photo: NVIDIA Newsroom X]

Several internal and external candidates could be considered. However, prediction markets Kalshi and Polymarket have identified Nvidia Vice President of Hyperscale and High-Performance Computing Ian Buck as a leading potential successor, Daniel Howley reported for Yahoo Finance.

The markets placed Buck’s chances at roughly 35% to 40%, although those odds can change and do not represent an official Nvidia board decision or confirmed list of candidates.

Buck has spent more than two decades at Nvidia, rising from systems engineer to a senior position overseeing major computing businesses.

He also has a strong technical background that could appeal to a board seeking continuity in the company’s technology strategy.

Buck holds a doctorate in computer science from Stanford University and helped develop CUDA, Nvidia’s parallel-computing platform.

CUDA enables developers to use the company’s graphics processing units for a broad range of computing tasks beyond graphics, helping establish the foundation for Nvidia’s position in AI computing.

Whoever succeeds Huang will face the challenge of leading a company whose identity and public profile have been closely tied to its co-founder.

Huang’s high-profile presentations, technical demonstrations and public appearances helped make him one of the most recognizable figures in the technology industry.

For now, Kress is serving as interim CEO while the board considers internal and external candidates. Nvidia has not announced a permanent successor or confirmed that Buck is on an official shortlist.