Nvidia’s board reportedly sounded out Rene Haas, Arm CEO, about succeeding Jensen Huang, according to a Financial Times report cited by Tom’s Hardware and Reuters. Huang left the position on Thursday following revelations about extramarital relationships, and CFO Colette Kress took over as interim CEO.
The possible approach to Haas does not amount to an offer: it is unclear whether he will receive one or whether he would accept the position. Nvidia also said it has not yet formally begun talks with candidates. The search is unfolding amid conflicting accounts of contact and an internal campaign for Huang to return.
A search underway, with differing accounts
The Financial Times reported that the board approached Haas as one of the names under consideration. Reuters and Tom’s Hardware have carried the report, but Nvidia’s statement to CNBC describes a process that is still preliminary: the company is selecting a search firm for the role and has not formally contacted potential candidates. The board called any speculation about specific internal or external contenders premature.
Hardware Upgrade also published the board’s statement and suggested that the denial of formal contact does not rule out informal soundings. That distinction is central: the approach attributed to the board comes from the Financial Times report, while Nvidia says it has not begun official contacts. Arm declined to comment, according to Reuters.
Kress retains her position as CFO alongside the interim role, which she took on Thursday. Fortune reported that she has led Nvidia’s finance organization since 2013. The company is scheduled to present its financial results on November 17, according to Hipertextual, and Kress will have to address shareholders and investors at that session.
Hipertextual notes that Wall Street analysts expect quarterly sales to double compared with the previous period. The publication expects the questions at the event to go beyond the business: Huang’s departure, revelations about his personal life, and concerns about executive management could also dominate the discussion.
Why Haas is on the list
Haas knows Nvidia from the inside. He worked there for seven years and rose to become vice president and general manager of the computing products business before joining Arm in 2013, according to Reuters. He became Arm’s CEO in 2022 and oversaw the company’s Nasdaq IPO in 2023.
Arm designs processor architectures and licenses them to other companies, which develop their own chips. Its business has historically relied on mobile phones, although the company is also expanding into computers. Hardware Upgrade adds that in recent months Arm began selling more complete products, including the AGI CPU for data centers.
Haas’s experience combines prior knowledge of Nvidia with leadership of a publicly traded company. Shay Boloor, chief market strategist at Futurum Equities, described that familiarity as an advantage in stepping into the role:
“Rene is one of few external candidates who wouldn't need to be brought up to speed on Nvidia.”
— Shay Boloor, chief market strategist at Futurum Equities
Fortune cites another argument from Boloor: Haas understands Jensen’s culture and knows the CPU side of Nvidia’s platform, given that its Grace and Vera processors use Arm architecture. However, his time at Nvidia belongs to an earlier phase: he left the company in 2013. Fortune notes that the board would have to assess whether leading Arm has prepared him for Nvidia’s greater scale and complexity.
A potential appointment would also add a corporate twist. Nvidia tried to buy Arm in 2020 but abandoned the plan in 2022 after regulatory objections and complaints from competitors, according to Hipertextual. At the time, Simon Segars was leading Arm, the publication notes.
The names competing for the position
Haas is not the only external candidate mentioned. Reuters lists Lisa Su, AMD’s CEO, and Sanjay Mehrotra, Micron’s CEO, among the names in circulation; it also mentions Matt Murphy, head of Marvell, and Johny Srouji, Apple’s head of hardware. Fortune includes Tom Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud, and Nikesh Arora, chairman and CEO of Palo Alto Networks, among the potential contenders cited by analysts.
Su has led AMD since 2014 and, according to Fortune, spearheaded the company’s recovery, turning it into a significant competitor in processors and AI chips. Hipertextual puts AMD’s current market capitalization at around $860 billion and says it surpassed $1 trillion a few months ago. It also notes that Su and Huang are distant relatives on their mothers’ side. For the board, attracting a sitting CEO would mean persuading her to leave the company she rebuilt.
Reuters adds that analysts see Kress as a steady financial leader and Ian Buck as a leading internal candidate. Buck has led the development of CUDA, the software platform that powers Nvidia’s AI chips, according to Reuters. The discussion therefore spans financial, technical, and executive profiles with experience at other major companies.
Former Apple CEO Tim Cook has also entered the conversation. U.S. President Donald Trump publicly proposed him, according to Reuters and Hardware Upgrade. Fortune notes that Cook succeeded Steve Jobs and led Apple for 15 years before becoming executive chairman in September; his experience in supply chains and Apple’s international expansion could be relevant, although his current responsibilities would complicate a recruitment.
Kurian and Arora offer other combinations of experience. Before taking over Google Cloud in 2019, Kurian spent 22 years at Oracle and became president of product development; at Google Cloud, he has worked with Nvidia on AI infrastructure, according to Fortune. Arora, who leads Palo Alto Networks, was president and chief operating officer of SoftBank and held senior commercial positions at Google.
Huang’s departure shakes the company and its surroundings
Huang left the top job on Thursday, according to Reuters, following revelations about extramarital relationships, including one with a person described as a suspected Chinese spy. Hardware Upgrade says there were reportedly three confirmed relationships and mentions Alice Huang in connection with the espionage suspicion. Information about those relationships has precipitated the search for a successor, but publications also describe a dispute over the company’s leadership and future.
According to Reuters, an internal post asking the board to take employees’ views on Huang’s future into account garnered more than 1,600 comments. Several called for his reinstatement, according to Wired, which Reuters cited based on reviewed internal correspondence. Elon Musk said on X that there was a petition to reinstate Huang and that he would sign it; Reuters said it was unclear whether he was referring to the internal initiative.
Hardware Upgrade says many employees want Huang to return and believe the revelations do not justify his departure. Meanwhile, analysts cited by Reuters expect his successor to move away from the highly personal leadership model that characterized Huang’s three decades at the helm of Nvidia.
During that period, Huang closely directed engineering road maps, geopolitical negotiations over exports to China, and investments in the AI ecosystem, according to Reuters. Hardware Upgrade describes his role as that of a “conductor” and says he had not publicly prepared a successor of his own. A shift toward a more institutional management structure is a possibility considered by several analysts, not an announced decision.
The transition coincides with increased regulatory scrutiny and growing support among U.S. lawmakers for new restrictions on Nvidia chip exports to China, Reuters notes. In that context, the board must weigh financial continuity, technical knowledge, or experience leading a major global technology company, according to coverage by Reuters and Hardware Upgrade.
The next public test will be the earnings presentation
The November 17 session will put Kress in front of shareholders and investors while the board continues its search for a permanent CEO. Nvidia has not yet announced how long the process will take or whether it will prioritize an internal promotion or an external hire, according to Hipertextual. Nor has an offer to Haas been confirmed.
Markets reacted to the uncertainty: U.S.-listed Arm shares closed down approximately 5%, while Nvidia shares fell nearly 2%, according to Reuters. The publication estimates that Nvidia lost around $573 billion in market value over the week.
For now, Haas is a prominent name on an open list, not the designated successor. The board still has to choose a search firm and define the kind of leadership it wants; in the meantime, Kress will face Nvidia’s next financial event as interim CEO.
Sources: Tom's Hardware, Hardware Upgrade, Hipertextual, Reuters / AOL, Fortune
