Ian Buck built Nvidia's secret weapon. Jensen Huang's departure makes it even more essential to the company's future.

Detailed summary

Ian Buck helped secure Nvidia's dominance by masterminding CUDA. What he does in light if Jensen Huang's departure is just as vital to the chip giant.

Nvidia announced the resignation of Jensen Huang after nearly a week of rolling revelations alleging romantic, extramarital relationships with multiple women, including one speculated to be an agent of the Chinese government. The departure of Nvidia's showman of a CEO will inevitably shed more light on his closest collaborators at the chip company. One executive poised to exert influence in the post-Huang era is Ian Buck, Nvidia's vice president of hyperscale and high-performance computing. The 48-year-old's contribution to Nvidia is hard-coded into the company's history.

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