Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang resigns amid affair allegations; Ian Buck steps into spotlight

Nvidia announced the resignation of Jensen Huang after nearly a week of revelations alleging romantic, extramarital relationships with multiple women, including one speculated to be an agent of the Chinese government. Huang stepped down on Thursday afternoon.

Ian Buck, Nvidia's vice president of hyperscale and high-performance computing, is poised to exert influence in the post-Huang era. The 48-year-old has worked alongside Huang since 2004, when he began building Compute Unified Device Architecture.

“We believe this new computing technology could solve problems inaccessible to classical processors.”

CUDA started with two people and two libraries. Today it supports more than 900 libraries and artificial intelligence models, with each library corresponding to an industry using Nvidia technology.

CUDA helped Nvidia reach approximately 90% market share in AI computing at one point. The platform remains central to how the company defends its technological moat.

Industry analysts and onlookers have repeatedly cited Buck in discussions of a possible successor to Huang, even before one was needed. His influence is just beginning in light of Huang's departure.

Huang co-founded Nvidia in 1993 with Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem to design 3D graphics chips for personal computers. The company later signed a partnership with Blizzard for World of Warcraft in 2004.

Huang anticipated the technical infrastructure needed for the fourth industrial revolution more than 20 years in advance. His resignation elevates Buck's role as a steward of the company's original vision.