Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has 36 direct reports as of October, according to an internal list obtained by Business Insider, offering a glimpse into the inner circle surrounding the world’s most valuable company.
Huang is known for having more direct reports compared to other tech leaders. Previously, in an interview at Stanford in March 2024, Huang said he had 55 direct reports, adding that many were paid the same amount.
Some of the executives reporting to Huang, according to the list, include Ian Buck, the architect behind Nvidia’s breakthrough software Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA), as well as CTO Michael Kagan and chief scientist Bill Dally.
“The more direct reports the CEO has, the less layers are in the company,” Huang said at The New York Times DealBook Summit in 2023. “It allows us to keep information fluid, allows us to make sure that everyone is empowered by information.”
Nvidia’s workforce has grown massively in recent years thanks to the AI boom, and Huang’s notoriously fierce work ethic has helped shape its hardcore culture.
It’s unknown whether Huang’s smaller fleet of direct reports signals a shift away from the horizontal structure.
Tech leaders have varying views on direct reports. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he prefers not to have too many and instead runs the social media giant with a “core army” of 30 lieutenants —not all of whom he manages directly. CEO Elon Musk has 19 direct reports at Tesla as of August, and five at xAI.
Related stories
Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know
Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know
A Nvidia spokesperson declined to comment.
Huang also said at Stanford that he doesn’t schedule one-on-one meetings with direct reports so that information can spread more easily throughout the organization — unless a meeting is requested, in which case he’ll “drop everything.”
Here is the list of Huang’s direct reports, according to the list Business Insider obtained. These include senior and executive vice presidents of key organizations at Nvidia.
Have a tip? Contact this reporter via email at [email protected] or Signal at @geoffweiss.25. Use a personal email address and a nonwork device; here’s our guide to sharing information securely.
