After the rumors about Jensen Huang: A $4.5 trillion market value empire, who will take over?


NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang. Image generated by AI

Written by｜Su Yang

Editor｜Xu Qingyang

On November 9, after NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang revealed his "infidelity," the ensuing question was: can he continue to lead this company with a market value of approximately $4.5 trillion? If not, who will continue to lead NVIDIA?

While countless netizens were watching, Trump publicly expressed support for Jensen Huang to remain as NVIDIA CEO. "Jensen Huang is a 'man of integrity' who has made outstanding contributions to the development of the United States."

Almost simultaneously, NVIDIA's board of directors established a committee composed of independent directors and hired external independent legal advisors to review the relevant situation.

NVIDIA's board stated that they still trust Jensen Huang and his management team. Jensen Huang himself also supports the investigation and has committed to continuing his duties as CEO to ensure the company's normal operations.

Assuming this incident prevents Jensen Huang from performing his duties normally, who will take over NVIDIA? Can the existing board and management team maintain the company's normal operations?

### 01 The 11 Most "Powerful" Individuals

Since founding NVIDIA in 1993, Jensen Huang has served as the company's CEO, leading this tech company for over 33 years.

To the outside world, Jensen Huang is NVIDIA, and NVIDIA is Jensen Huang.

NVIDIA adopts a one-share, one-vote common stock system without a dual-class share structure, allowing shareholders to enjoy corresponding voting rights based on their shareholdings.

According to NVIDIA's proxy statement released in May 2026, as of March 23 of that year, Jensen Huang beneficially owned approximately 870.6 million shares of the company's common stock, accounting for about 3.58% of the total share capital. Subsequent insider trading disclosure documents (Form 4) indicate that Jensen Huang's shareholding has been adjusted due to charitable gifts and tax withholding during the vesting of restricted stock.

Based on the closing price of $186.64 on November 6, the market value of Jensen Huang's NVIDIA shares is approximately $16.249 billion.


Details of the Form 4 changes submitted to the SEC by NVIDIA in March 2026, adding approximately 937,000 shares of common stock, increasing Jensen Huang's direct holdings to about 70.63 million shares.

This means that the long-standing phenomenon of "two-in-one" seen from the outside is not unbreakable—although Jensen Huang is the founder and long-term leader, he does not have absolute control over the company through special voting rights.

From a governance perspective, the NVIDIA board of directors, elected by the shareholders' meeting, is the absolute core of the company's governance.

On May 7, the size of NVIDIA's board of directors expanded from 10 to 11 members, with former Goldman Sachs Vice Chairman Suzanne Nora Johnson filling the new seat, effective July 13.


Current list of NVIDIA board members

Currently, among the 11 members of NVIDIA's board, Jensen Huang is the only non-independent director, while the other 10 are independent directors. The board has established specialized committees such as the Audit Committee, Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, and Compensation Committee, responsible for financial oversight, director nominations, corporate governance, and executive compensation.

The majority of independent directors means that significant governance matters are not decided solely by Jensen Huang; this independent investigation is one example.

According to the company's announced arrangements, the investigation is led by a committee of independent directors, with external legal advisors involved. Since the investigation involves the CEO himself, having independent directors lead the review helps avoid Jensen Huang's direct involvement in the investigation's decision-making, maintaining the investigation's independence.


Prediction platform Polymarket predicts the likelihood of Jensen Huang announcing his resignation by December 31.

Data from prediction platform Polymarket shows that the probability of "Jensen Huang announcing his resignation or dismissal before December 31" has fluctuated sharply, once exceeding 75%, and is currently around 17%.

Although the prediction market focuses on the end of the year, NVIDIA's board has not disclosed a specific timeline for the investigation and resolutions.

For the outside world and investors, more critical than the prediction timeline are the two upcoming information disclosure windows: one is NVIDIA's earnings conference on November 17 at 11:00 AM Eastern Time, where management will inevitably face intense questioning from analysts and the market; the other is a closed briefing on November 18, where three important committees of the U.S. House of Representatives have requested Jensen Huang's presence.

These two time points may become key moments revealing the subsequent direction.

### 02 Jensen Huang Has No Successor


List of executives who report directly to Jensen Huang

If the board is responsible for supervision and major decisions, then the core of NVIDIA's daily operations is a large executive team directly managed by Jensen Huang.

NVIDIA's management structure has a very distinct characteristic: it is highly flat.

According to a report by Bloomberg in January this year, Jensen Huang did not establish a multi-layer management system in the traditional manner of large enterprises. Media such as Business Insider have reported that the number of executives reporting directly to Jensen Huang once reached about 55, and later this number decreased to about 36.

These executives are distributed across areas such as strategy, hardware, software, AI, public relations, and networking, including CFO Colette Kress, Executive Vice President of Global Field Operations Jay Puri, Executive Vice President of Operations Debora Shoquist, and General Counsel Tim Teter.

This means that NVIDIA has not set up too many middle management layers, allowing many key business leaders to report directly to Jensen Huang, reducing the levels of information transmission and enabling the CEO to directly grasp the progress of various business lines.

Jensen Huang has explained this management structure design multiple times.

In his view, traditional enterprises that divide organizations by divisions or business units tend to form independent management systems, even creating information barriers. He prefers NVIDIA to operate like a complete "Computing Stack," allowing different departments to collaborate around common goals.

Jensen Huang also does not agree with the traditional approach to cultivating successors. In his view, companies should continuously pass on knowledge, experience, and decision-making abilities in daily work, rather than designating someone in advance to complete succession arrangements. In March of this year, Jensen Huang publicly stated on the renowned American podcast Lex Fridman Podcast that he does not believe in formal succession plans and expressed his desire to lead NVIDIA for the long term.

"If you worry about succession plans and are troubled by this anxiety all day, what should you do? Break everything down. If you truly care about the company's future after you leave, the most important thing is to pass on knowledge, information, insights, skills, and experience to the team as frequently and continuously as possible," Jensen Huang stated at that time.

This management approach indeed allows more executives to participate directly in company decision-making, but it also brings another issue: having 36 executives report to the CEO does not mean that one of them is ready to succeed the CEO.

Additionally, Jensen Huang's family members also hold positions at NVIDIA, adding a layer of special color to the company's management structure.


Jensen Huang's daughter, Huang Minshan

According to reports from The Information and other media, Jensen Huang's daughter, Huang Minshan, joined NVIDIA as an intern in 2020 and gradually rose through the ranks.

In March 2026, she was appointed as Senior Director of Physical AI Product and Technology Marketing, responsible for marketing related to Omniverse, robotics, and physical AI products. Company-disclosed data shows her total compensation for the 2026 fiscal year was approximately $1.23 million.


Jensen Huang's son, Huang Shengbin

Jensen Huang's son, Huang Shengbin (Spencer Huang), joined NVIDIA in 2022 and currently serves as Director of Robotics Product Management, responsible for the robotics product line, with a compensation of approximately $1.32 million for the 2026 fiscal year.


Jensen Huang's son-in-law, Nico Caprez

Additionally, Jensen Huang's son-in-law, Nico Caprez, joined NVIDIA in early 2024, initially serving as Manager of Corporate Development. In January 2026, he was promoted to Vice President of Global AI Infrastructure Growth, responsible for Neocloud, data center financing, and large cloud customer relationships.

Compared to Jensen Huang's two children, the promotion of son-in-law Nico has attracted more attention.

According to Business Insider, he has participated in several large financing and collaboration arrangements, with some employees and partners even referring to him as Jensen Huang's "consigliere."

The Information reported that some NVIDIA employees believe the company is increasingly showing characteristics of a family business, and there is speculation that Huang Minshan and Nico may be groomed as future management candidates.

Currently, none of the three have been listed as executives by NVIDIA, nor is there public evidence indicating they have been identified as Jensen Huang's successors. From the perspective of positions and business divisions, they are currently not sufficient to be considered candidates capable of fully taking over NVIDIA.

Therefore, while NVIDIA's management structure is sufficiently flat, it has not resolved the issue of CEO succession.

### 03 If Jensen Huang is Lost


Although NVIDIA has a mature governance structure, it has yet to publicly disclose a clear CEO succession plan.

In terms of succession planning, there are plenty of precedents to reference from other large companies.

Apple (which announced the handover plan between Tim Cook and John Ternus in advance) and Berkshire Hathaway (which confirmed Greg Abel as successor early on) both indicate that clearly identifying candidates and setting a transition period in advance can effectively reduce the volatility brought about by changes in core leadership.

Even if Jensen Huang suddenly cannot fulfill his CEO duties, NVIDIA's daily operations are unlikely to come to a halt. The existing management team can handle the management of their respective businesses. The board can also arrange for an interim leader and explore subsequent personnel plans according to corporate governance procedures.

However, maintaining business operations does not equate to smoothly completing the handover of the highest management level. Jensen Huang's role at NVIDIA has long exceeded daily operational management; he has long led the company's technological strategy and business direction and is also a key figure connecting chip development, software ecosystems, and global customers.

From GPUs to CUDA, and then to AI infrastructure, several key business transformations at NVIDIA have been closely related to Jensen Huang's judgment. He frequently represents the company in communications with global tech companies, governments, and industry partners. Therefore, the successor will face not only the management of a large tech company but also how to continue the existing technological trajectory, maintain industry partnerships, and explain the company's next strategic steps to the market.

This issue has also attracted media attention. A Bloomberg report in January 2026 discussed the CEO succession issue at NVIDIA, and Business Insider previously pointed out that the company does not yet have a clear and widely recognized potential successor. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives has also mentioned the importance of Jensen Huang's strategic and market insights for NVIDIA.

These discussions point to the same question: NVIDIA has a management team capable of supporting daily operations, but there is currently no publicly identified candidate who can be seen as Jensen Huang's comprehensive successor.

Jensen Huang is still at the helm, and the board has clearly expressed confidence in him. However, as NVIDIA's position in the global AI industry continues to rise, CEO succession is no longer just an internal personnel arrangement; it also relates to the market's judgment on the continuity of its long-term strategy.

For NVIDIA, how to ensure that the company's development no longer overly relies on a single core leader will be a governance issue that must be faced sooner or later.