Jensen Huang resigned from the C-suite of Nvidia with immediate effect, leaving the tech world wondering who would be the next CEO of Nvidia. Media reports and the Internet are rife with speculations whether the artificial intelligence chipmaker would handpick its next CEO from in-house business leaders or pass on Jensen’s 35-year-old baton to an outsider amid the high-stake leadership transition. Several high-profile names have emerged for Jensen’s successor.
Who is next CEO of Nvidia?
While US President Trump recommended former Apple CEO Tim Cook as an ideal replacement of Jensen Huang, saying “A Legend replaces a Legend,” various media reports have brought five names into a global discussion about the future CEO of Nvidia. They are Ian Buck, Colette Kress who has served as Nvidia’s CFO for 13 years; Rene Haas, CEO of Arm, a leading semiconductor company; Johny Srouji, Apple’s Chief Hardware Officer; and Jeff Fisher, Senior Vice President of GeForce at Nvidia. Jay Puri, Nvidia’s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales.
4 Indian Americans among frontrunners for Nvidia CEO
There is no dearth of Indian-origin tech executives and business leaders to succeed Jensen Huang. Nvidia’s list of potential candidates for the next CEO includes Jay Puri, Senior Advisor to Nvidia; Sanjay Mehrotra, CEO of Micron Technology; Thomas Kurian CEO of Google Cloud; and Nikesh Arora, CEO of Palo Alto Networks. Though it is too early to predict when and where Nvidia’s search for the next chief executive officer will end, the likelihood of an Indian American replacing Jensen Huang cannot be ruled out, given the growing club of Indian-origin CEOs heading big to medium conglomerates.
Who is Indian-origin Nvidia executive Jay Puri?
One of the key executives driving Nvidia’s growth into a $4 trillion AI chipmaking giant, Jay Puri has been serving as a Senior Advisor to the company for the past four months. Prior to that he had been responsible for worldwide sales and marketing as Executive Vice President since he joined Nvidia in 2005. Precisely, he was the marketing brain of the company, overseeing global sales and partner alliances – a key driver for Nvidia’s year-on-year revenue growth.
Among the potential successors to Jensen Huang at Nvidia, Jay Puri’s full name is Ajay K. Puri. A distinguished alumnus of Harvard Business School, he joined Nvidia with a treasure of experience from Sun Microsystems where he worked for 22 years. He was one of the first employees to start the marketing operations at Sun Microsystems in 1982 and resigned as Senior Vice President. In the early days of his career, he had short stints at Hewlett-Packard, Booz Allen Hamilton, and Texas Instruments.
Indian American Jay Puri’s salary at Nvidia
Interest in Jay Puri’s compensation package and candidature for the ‘CEO’ role at Nvidia is growing among global media, as well as Indian Diaspora. As former Executive Vice President of Worldwide Field Operations, his compensation package details are below:
- Fiscal Year 2026: $14.78 million total compensation (including a base salary of $948,497 and stock awards of $12.48 million).
- Fiscal Year 2025: $21.6 million total compensation, up from $13.6 million the previous year, driven by strong company performance and stock payouts.
- Fiscal Year 2024: $13.6 million total compensation.
- Fiscal Year 2023: $10.6 million total compensation
Jay Puri or Sanjay Mehrotra: Who is Strongest Contender for Nvidia CEO
“Both Jay Puri and Sanjay Mehrotra are promising contenders to head the AI chipmaking giant for the next decade. As an Nvidia veteran and insider having the company’s global marketing knowhow, Jay Puri is a better consideration. Billionaire Sanjay Mehrotra is a proven semiconductor entrepreneur with 70+ patents and experience leading two major tech businesses: SanDisk and Micron Technology. Evidently, he may bring better technical and leadership credentials as Nvidia CEO,” said Sourav Agarwal, Senior Editor of Travel Beats.
This editorial news article is brought to you by Travel Beats, a leading community portal for Indian expats in North America. Sign up to Travel Beats’ newsletter for Diaspora stories, international travel news, best flight deals and discounts, travel hacks and guides, visa and immigration updates. Travel Beats is a subsidiary of Indian Eagle, a leading air-ticketing partner of major airlines for 20 years.
