Semafor: ‘Nvidia Board Preparing to Oust CEO Jensen Huang, Name Interim CEO’

Rohan Goswami, Reed Albergotti, and Ashley Gold, reporting for Semafor at 10:27pm ET:

Some members of Nvidia’s board favor appointing Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress as interim CEO at the beleaguered chipmaker if CEO and founder Jensen Huang is ousted, according to people familiar with the matter.

Here’s Kress’s LinkedIn profile.

Semafor earlier confirmed that Nvidia’s board is preparing to oust Huang as soon as Wednesday, after media reports detailed that he had a second extramarital affair. The Nvidia board briefed the White House on its planned meeting, according to a senior administration official.

Nvidia has tapped an outside search firm to find the company’s next CEO, Bloomberg reported. One person being considered for the top job is Apple hardware chief Johny Srouji, who was among the executives considered for Intel CEO in 2019, according to another person familiar with the matter.

Kara Swisher spitballed Tim Cook as an idea, but that’s nonsense. If Cook wanted to be the CEO of a Fortune 2 company, he’d still be CEO at Apple. Apple despises Nvidia and Nvidia despises Apple. Cook may well be enjoying this fiasco, but only as entertainment drizzled with fresh farm-to-table schadenfreude — not as a personal opportunity.

Srouji, though, is an interesting name. Semafor doesn’t say whether this is just wishful thinking on the part of Nvidia’s board or if Srouji has indicated receptiveness. Srouji has been at Apple since 2008 but he’s a bit of a cipher. My spidey-sense can’t tell if he bleeds six colors or not.

Mark Gurman — and no one else — claimed last year that Srouji went to Tim Cook and threatened to leave for another company. Srouji called bullshit on this with a memo that stated flatly, “I love my job at Apple, and I don’t plan on leaving anytime soon.” Then, in April, when John Ternus was named Cook’s successor, Srouji was simultaneously promoted to the new position of Chief Hardware Officer.

So one scenario is that Srouji feels no allegiance to Apple, and Tim Cook and John Ternus are the sort of leaders who, when faced with a threat from a subordinate, give in because they’re cowards, and give a big promotion to someone who might leave Apple for a rival just weeks after Apple’s CEO transition.

Another scenario is that Srouji meant what he said, loves his job at Apple, and truly is John Ternus’s trusted and trustworthy hardware lieutenant. In this case, Nvidia’s board leaking that they’re considering Srouji to replace Huang is like someone in hell saying they’re considering ordering some ice water. My money is on this scenario.

★ Wednesday, 11 November 2026