Chip research firm SemiAnalysis argues that NVIDIA is a company built around Jensen Huang with a thin succession bench, and that the two internal technical leaders being talked about would struggle to take over Huang's command of the supply chain.

Concept illustration: a large white board on legs stands against a mustard-yellow background. At its top left is a framed sign with a green emblem and the lettering NVIDIA, with a big black opening quotation mark below it, and a hand in a black sleeve reaches in from the top right, pointing down at a thick red twisted rope. A figure on the left in a white shirt and black trousers holds the rope in both hands; the rope runs right above two smaller figures standing side by side, then splits into four thin red lines that reach the chimneys of four small factory buildings on a stand lettered SUPPLY CHAIN. Printed on the image: SemiAnalysis argues Ian Buck, Jonah Alben would struggle to take over Huang's supply-chain command.

SemiAnalysis attaches no data to this judgment, and it sells data to chipmakers and investment firms. SemiAnalysis was founded by Dylan Patel and is known for its chip supply-chain and data-center models. The piece names the candidates being talked about as Ian Buck and Jonah Alben, and says SemiAnalysis doesn't think Buck can run the hardware engineering side. The piece also says the next CEO is unlikely to make bold commitments to customers the way Huang did, and that GPU rental providers financed with NVIDIA guarantees would be hit first (SemiAnalysis, 2026-11-12). How we checked →

Source and checks

This item ran in the brief of Nov 13, 2026, alongside 16 other items. How we checked it, the quote checks and what was still missing that day are on that issue's How we checked page.

Cite this item

SecondSource (2026). "Chip research firm SemiAnalysis argues that NVIDIA is a company built around Jensen Huang with a thin succession bench, and that the two internal technical leaders being talked about would struggle to take over Huang's command of the supply chain.." https://secondsource.io/en/expert/2026-11-13-1/. Accessed access date.