Nvidia Weighs British Chipmaker Arm’s CEO to Replace Huang
Nvidia's board has approached Arm Holdings CEO Rene Haas about succeeding Jensen Huang, people familiar with the matter said. Arm shares fell more than 5% and Nvidia dropped about 2% as the company searches for a new chief executive.
Nvidia's board has approached Rene Haas, chief executive of British chipmaker Arm Holdings, as it searches for a successor to Jensen Huang, according to people familiar with the matter. Arm's US-listed shares fell more than 5% after the report, and Nvidia's dropped about 2%.
Nvidia has not confirmed the approach, and it has not been independently verified. Arm declined to comment.
A company in crisis
Huang stepped down after revelations of extramarital affairs, including one involving a suspected Chinese spy. The exit plunged the chipmaker into crisis and sent shockwaves across an AI industry he helped bankroll.
Finance chief Colette Kress is interim CEO. The board said it is selecting a search firm and has not formally engaged any potential candidates.
"Any speculation regarding individual candidates, whether internal or external, is premature," the board said in a statement.
Haas is one of several candidates under consideration, the people said. There is no guarantee he will be offered the job or accept it.
Who is Haas
Haas spent seven years at Nvidia, rising to vice president and general manager of its computing products business. He joined Arm in 2013 and became its CEO in 2022. He oversaw the company's Nasdaq listing in 2023.
Arm designs processor architectures and licenses them to other companies that develop chip designs. Its strength has historically been in mobile phones, and it is expanding into computers.
Shay Boloor, chief market strategist at Futurum Equities, said Haas's mix of Nvidia familiarity and experience running a publicly traded chip company could make him an unusual fit. "Rene is one of few external candidates who wouldn't need to be brought up to speed on Nvidia," he said.
Other names in play
Analysts have floated several other candidates. Veteran engineer Ian Buck is seen as a top contender after leading development of CUDA, the software platform that powers Nvidia's AI chips. Kress is viewed as a steady financial authority.
External names discussed by analysts include AMD chief Lisa Su, who has navigated the key China market, and Micron chief Sanjay Mehrotra, whose memory chips power Nvidia servers. Industry watchers also cite Marvell head Matt Murphy and Apple hardware chief Johny Srouji, who oversaw the iPhone maker's in-house silicon development.
President Trump floated former Apple chief Tim Cook. Nvidia's board is weighing whether to prioritize financial continuity, deep technical expertise, or experience running a global tech heavyweight.
Some analysts expect the next CEO to break from Huang's three-decade reign as the hands-on "chief conductor." He personally steered engineering roadmaps, geopolitical negotiations over China exports and massive investments across the AI ecosystem.
A shift toward a more institutional leadership structure would come as Nvidia faces heightened regulatory scrutiny. US lawmakers increasingly agree on further restricting the company's chip exports to China.
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