Nvidia’s board has approached Arm chief executive Rene Haas as a potential successor to Jensen Huang, just a day after the chipmaker’s founder resigned, in the first sign of how the world’s most valuable company plans to fill the biggest job in artificial intelligence.
Key Points
- Rene Haas Nvidia — the Financial Times reported on Friday that Nvidia’s board had approached the Arm chief executive as one of several candidates to replace Jensen Huang.
- Haas has led the British chip designer Arm since 2022 and previously spent about seven years at Nvidia before joining Arm in 2013.
- Nvidia says it has not formally engaged any candidate and is still selecting an executive search firm, calling speculation about individuals premature.
- Elon Musk has backed a campaign to reinstate Huang, while some Nvidia executives have reportedly threatened to quit.
The Financial Times, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that Haas is among several people being considered for the top job. There is no guarantee he will be offered the position or that he would accept it. Nvidia’s board said in a statement that it was in the process of selecting a search firm to identify a new chief executive and had not formally engaged any potential candidates. “Any speculation regarding individual candidates, whether internal or external, is premature,” the board said.
Haas would be a natural fit in many ways. He has run Arm, the SoftBank-backed British designer whose processor architecture sits inside almost every smartphone, since 2022, and he knows Nvidia from the inside, having worked there for about seven years more than a decade ago. He is understood to maintain strong professional relationships with Huang and several members of Nvidia’s board. Tae Kim, author of the book “The Nvidia Way”, has named Haas and Nvidia vice president Ian Buck as the two strongest candidates to lead the company.
A company in turmoil
The succession search comes at a moment of extraordinary upheaval. Huang resigned on Thursday after 33 years as Nvidia’s only chief executive, and chief financial officer Colette Kress is serving as interim chief executive while longtime director Harvey C. Jones has become the board’s first-ever chair. The company has given no official reason for Huang’s departure, and its filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission says only that he resigned from all three of his roles.
The exit has stirred anger inside the company. An internal social media letter purportedly signed by Nvidia staff demanded the board’s resignation and Huang’s reinstatement, and reports say some top executives have threatened to quit and join SpaceX’s Terafab chip venture if Huang is not brought back. Elon Musk, the SpaceX chief executive, has publicly backed a petition calling for Huang’s reinstatement. The board has said it will continue its internal investigation even after Huang’s exit.
Huang’s departure followed days of turmoil. The Wall Street Journal reported on 11 November that the board was preparing to oust him, and Fox Business reported that he stepped down after an internal investigation into his relationship with a woman reported to be a suspected Chinese intelligence asset. US officials believe the woman, an executive at the company Megaspeed, is a Chinese intelligence asset; China denies it, and Huang reportedly denies knowing of any spying.
What comes next
The first real test for the new leadership comes on Tuesday, 17 November, when Nvidia reports third-quarter results. Shares fell as much as 16% intraday on Thursday after the resignation was announced, before recovering to close down 4.3% at $166.19, with the company’s market value just above $4 trillion. Whoever takes the job will inherit a company that dominates the market for AI chips but now faces questions about its leadership, its governance and its relationship with Washington, where the chairs of three House committees have asked Huang to sit for a closed-door interview on 1 December.
For background on the resignation itself, see our report on Jensen Huang resigning as Nvidia chief executive, and on the board weighing his future. More in our Business section.
Sources: The Statesman, “Nvidia approaches Arm CEO Rene Haas to replace Jensen Huang” (https://www.thestatesman.com/business/nvidia-approaches-arm-ceo-rene-haas-to-replace-jensen-huang-1503662356.html/amp); Khaama Press, “Nvidia Considers Arm CEO Rene as Possible Huang Successor” (https://www.khaama.com/nvidia-arm-ceo-rene-haas-jensen-huang-successor/).