Nvidia board approaches Arm’s Rene Haas for CEO, FT says

Nvidia's board has approached Arm Holdings chief executive Rene Haas as it looks for a permanent successor to Jensen Huang, the Financial Times reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. Haas is one of several candidates under consideration. According to the report, there is no guarantee he will be offered the job or that he would take it, Reuters reported. Arm declined to comment, Nvidia did not immediately respond, and Reuters said it could not independently verify the report.globalbankingandfinance.com

Arm's U.S.-listed shares fell sharply on Friday, and their losses grew after the report came out. Nvidia shares also lost ground.investing.com

A sudden vacancy

The search started after Nvidia announced on November 12 that Huang had resigned as president, CEO and board member, effective immediately. Chief financial officer Colette Kress became interim CEO, and the board said it would consider internal and external candidates. Harvey Jones, a former Synopsys chief executive, was named the board's first-ever chair. Huang left after revelations of extramarital affairs, including one involving a suspected Chinese spy, according to Reuters. Bloomberg reported that the company has hired an outside firm to identify candidates.investor.nvidia.com+2

Why Haas

Haas has run Arm since 2022. Before that he spent more than seven years at Nvidia and still has close ties to Huang and several Nvidia directors. Analysts had floated his name before Huang resigned. A banker who works on chip deals told Reuters that Haas made the most "logical sense" because of his profile and his knowledge of the semiconductor industry. Morningstar analyst Brian Colello called him "a compelling external candidate that could guide the Nvidia ship".cfodive.com+2

Other names have been mentioned as well. Internal options include Nvidia data center executive Ian Buck and Kress. Outside candidates include Apple hardware chief Johny Srouji and AMD CEO Lisa Su. President Donald Trump has suggested former Apple CEO Tim Cook.axios.com+2

Ripple effects for chips

Hiring Haas would leave Arm, whose architecture is used across the industry, including in Nvidia's own Grace and Vera CPUs, looking for a new leader of its own. The leadership turmoil has also hit chip stocks more broadly. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index PHLX Semiconductor Index ↘ 3.46% fell on Friday, with AMD and Broadcom ↘ 4.76% among the decliners.investing.com

Investors will get their first look at Nvidia without Huang soon. The company plans to report third-quarter fiscal 2027 results on Tuesday, November 17, as previously scheduled.investor.nvidia.com