Key Points

  • AI chip giant Nvidia has hired Scott Gawel, a 55-year-old veteran executive from Intel, as its new Chief Accounting Officer, effective May 4, according to a securities filing.
  • The filing reveals that Gawel's appointment coincides with the same-day retirement announcement of current CAO Donald Robertson. Robertson will remain as the company's Vice President of Finance, overseeing several unspecified projects until July 1.
  • Gawel's compensation package includes an annual salary of $800,000 and two "new hire equity grants" of restricted stock units with a combined target value of $12.9 million, vesting over four years. Nvidia has also agreed to indemnify Gawel for expenses related to any litigation or proceedings he may face as a company executive.

In-Depth Analysis

According to Nvidia's latest proxy filing, Gawel's salary is slightly lower than the $893,739 that CFO Colette Kress received in fiscal 2025. Kress's total compensation last year was $21.4 million, with the bulk coming from $19.8 million in stock awards plus base salary.

Gawel previously worked at Intel as Vice President and CAO from 2022 to 2026. Intel is also a major player in the AI space. According to his LinkedIn profile, he previously spent over 18 years at Oracle, holding roles such as Corporate Controller and Assistant Corporate Controller.

Gawel holds a bachelor's degree in economics and accounting from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and began his career at Big Four accounting firm Ernst & Young, where he worked for five years.

According to Robertson's LinkedIn profile, he has served as CAO since June 2019, and this transition is a normal handover.

The executive change comes just over a month after Nvidia's annual GTC conference, where the company promoted a range of new products designed to run AI models more efficiently. According to The Wall Street Journal, these product launches come amid growing customer demand for inference computing chips, rather than just training.

Following the GTC conference, Morningstar analysts raised their fair value estimate for Nvidia's stock from $240 to $260, citing "improved near-term forecasts, although we have lowered long-term growth expectations." The report, led by senior equity analyst Brian Colello, was published on March 18. It also noted that Nvidia expects cumulative revenue of $1 trillion from Blackwell and Rubin AI products between 2025 and 2027.

The report stated: "At the conference, what impressed us most was the buzz around OpenClaw and Nvidia's support for emerging open-source agentic AI products. Agentic AI is clearly developing rapidly."