Following Jensen Huang's resignation as NVIDIA's chief executive officer, the board of directors is reportedly considering three Israelis to lead the chip manufacturer.
According to Calcalist, Michael Kagan, NVIDIA's chief technology officer (CTO), and Johny Srouji, Apple's chief hardware officer, are two of the Israelis the company's board is considering.
Additionally, Ynet reported that Eyal Waldman, Mellanox's founder and former CEO, is also among the people being considered to lead the chipmaker giant, which is set to face several hiccups following Huang's resignation.
Both Kagan and Waldman were co-founders of Mellanox, an Israeli networking company that NVIDIA acquired in 2020 for some $7 billion, with Waldman having CEO experience that might give him the edge over his former partner.
In contrast, Kagan has the edge of having worked at NVIDIA and helped develop technology for the chipmaker over the last several years, and he also has contacts inside the company he acquired during his time as CTO.
Finally, Calcalist remarked that Srouji's edge is mainly his experience developing Apple's silicon strategy, which allowed the iPhone maker to develop its own chips for its various products. The main reason against Srouji's appointment as NVIDIA's CEO is the fact that he was promoted to Apple's chief hardware officer a little more than half a year ago, in April 2026.
Who will lead NVIDIA next?
Huang's resignation was pushed by three reported affairs with two employees and a woman whom American intelligence deemed a Chinese spy, with vice president Colette Kress stepping in as the interim CEO.
Kress, who previously worked as the chief financial officer at NVIDIA, joined the company in 2013 after working for Microsoft and Cisco. She is now one of the favorites to lead the company.
Ian Buck, NVIDIA's hyperscale AI hardware and software products, is also one of the favorites to take the role, with his lack of experience as an executive being the main reason people think he might not get the job.
Other candidates being considered are Rene Haas, CEO of Arm and a former NVIDIA executive; Lisa Su, who works as the CEO of AMD, one of NVIDIA's main competitors; and Matt Garman, CEO of Amazon Web Services.
Trump pushes for American CEO, asks NVIDIA to select Tim Cook
US President Donald Trump also spoke about the situation and suggested that former Apple CEO Tim Cook should take the leadership of the chipmaker.
“NOW THAT NVIDIA CEO JENSEN HUANG, who has done a fantastic job, has resigned, there is only one man to take his place - TIM COOK of Apple," Trump said on social media.
"A Legend replaces a Legend!" he added.
Trump is now also reportedly facing pressure from Democrat policymakers for the loose limits that his administration had regarding the amount of NVIDIA chips being sold to China, with officials demanding that they "preserve all records" related to the administration's dealings with the company.
Follow us on GoogleSource: The Jerusalem Post · TOBIAS HOLCMAN
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