Nvidia reportedly approaches Arm CEO Rene Haas as potential Huang successor

The Financial Times reported that Nvidia's board approached Arm CEO Rene Haas about potentially succeeding Jensen Huang. People familiar with the matter told the FT that Haas is among several contenders, with no assurance that Haas will receive or accept an offer. The FT reported that Haas retains close connections with Huang and some Nvidia directors.

Nvidia's board said the board was still choosing an executive search firm and had not formally engaged any candidate. The board called speculation about specific internal or external candidates premature.

Huang resigned Thursday after leading Nvidia, which Huang co-founded, for 33 years, following reports of extramarital relationships. Those reports included a relationship with a business executive whom U.S. officials suspect has Chinese intelligence ties. Nvidia said Nvidia had no reason to believe company secrets had been compromised. Chief financial officer Colette Kress has taken over as interim CEO. Longtime director Harvey Jones has assumed the board chairmanship. Analysts have suggested Nvidia data-center executive Ian Buck and AMD chief Lisa Su as potential successors, without confirmed appointments or offers.

Wired reported that an internal Nvidia suggestion-box discussion attracted more than 1,600 comments, many supporting Huang's reinstatement. An anonymous employee wrote, "If you believe in the mission, bring back THE boss". Other employees have called for greater transparency about Huang's departure. Employee support for Huang does not establish that the board has begun discussions about reinstatement.

Haas, 64, works in Silicon Valley and has experience across semiconductor engineering, product development and sales. Haas earned a degree in electrical engineering at Clarkson University. Haas worked for Tensilica and Scintera Networks before starting at Nvidia in 2006. Haas spent seven years leading Nvidia's computing products business as vice president and general manager before joining Arm in 2013. Haas advanced from strategic alliances to chief commercial officer in 2015. Haas took charge of Arm's intellectual-property products group in 2017 before becoming CEO in February 2022. Haas became CEO as regulatory pressure caused Nvidia's proposed $40 billion acquisition of Arm to collapse.

Haas led Arm's return to Nasdaq in September 2023 through an IPO with an initial valuation of about $54.5 billion. The offering ranked among that year's largest stock-market debuts. The IPO allowed Japan's SoftBank, Arm's owner, to sell shares without relinquishing control.

Nvidia primarily supplies graphics processors and associated computing systems. By contrast, Arm licenses computing architecture and chip designs to customers including Apple, Amazon and Qualcomm. Arm collects licensing fees and royalties from customers using Arm technology. Designs based on Arm technology are increasingly used in cloud servers alongside phones.

Arm reported quarterly revenue of $1.44 billion for the period ending September 30, a 27% increase from a year earlier. Arm's royalties from data-center chips doubled. Arm said the first commercial deliveries of Arm's new CPU remain scheduled for early 2027.

Haas holds a seat on SoftBank's board. Haas has also led SoftBank Group International as CEO since April, helping supervise semiconductor and AI interests. Joining Nvidia would require Haas to disentangle those connections, particularly because Nvidia and SoftBank are partners with increasingly overlapping data-center hardware interests.

Nvidia's next CEO would inherit leadership in AI chips alongside sensitive government and customer relationships while Washington considers stricter export restrictions on China. Nvidia's earnings announcement is scheduled for November 17, with Kress leading Nvidia while the search for a permanent CEO continues.