Israel's VCs see opportunity for Nvidia challengers after Huang's exit

Following the resignation of Jensen Huang, the former chief executive of US chipmaker Nvidia, Israel's tech community is concerned about the company's future role in the country. Huang described Israel as Nvidia's "second home" in 2023. Nvidia's GPUs are central to training and running large language models, so turmoil at the top matters for the wider AI industry.

Ties to Israel

In 2019 Huang drove the $6.9 billion acquisition of Israeli chipmaker Mellanox and made it the base of Nvidia's largest R&D facility outside the United States. The company also planned a multibillion-dollar campus in northern Israel. Nvidia employs 6,000 people locally. Intel, Microsoft and many homegrown startups also carry out R&D in Israel.

Israeli cybersecurity entrepreneur Pavel Gurvich told TechCrunch that Huang's role in bringing Nvidia to the country has created strong positive sentiment in the local tech community.

Succession

Colette Kress, the CFO, is interim CEO. In a 2023 interview now circulating on X, she said she typically began her day with Israel meetings before moving on to California. Among the names floated as possible successors are two Israelis, Apple's Johny Srouji and Nvidia's Michael Kagan, though neither is at the top of the tentative list.

Openings for rivals

Yanai Oron, general partner at Vertex Ventures Israel, said slower decisions at Nvidia could give competitors an opening, but that if uncertainty also slows AI spending, they could end up with a bigger share of a smaller opportunity. Adi Levanon, founder and managing partner at Selah Ventures, said Huang's departure does not dismantle Nvidia's technology or ecosystem but could give rivals more room to shape what comes next. Interest, and some venture capital, is already flowing to developers of AI-specific chips and inference software. Levanon added that a leadership change alone will not win these challengers business.