Nvidia says CEO talk premature after Arm’s Haas report

Nvidia is looking for its first new leader in more than three decades. Jensen Huang resigned as president, chief executive and director effective immediately, and the board named Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress interim CEO while it searches for a permanent successor, according to the company. His departure followed reports of extramarital affairs, including one with a woman U.S. officials identified as a Chinese spy, The New York Times reported. Investors now face a basic question: who could run a company Huang built and led for 33 years?investor.nvidia.com+1

Haas emerges as outside contender

Nvidia's board has approached Arm Holdings CEO Rene Haas about succeeding Huang, the Financial Times reported on Friday, November 13, according to Reuters. The FT said Haas is one of several candidates and that there is no guarantee he will be offered the job or accept it. Haas spent seven years at Nvidia, rising to vice president and general manager of its computing products business, before he joined Arm in 2013. Arm declined to comment.charlotteobserver.com

Later on Friday, the board pushed back on the speculation. "We are in the process of selecting a search firm for the Nvidia CEO role," it said in a statement to CNBC. "We have not formally engaged any potential candidates." The board added that "any speculation regarding individual candidates, whether internal or external, is premature."cnbc.com

Analysts have also named people inside the company. These include Kress and Ian Buck, the vice president who leads hyperscale and high-performance computing, MarketWatch reported. Tae Kim, author of "The Nvidia Way," picked Haas and Buck as the strongest candidates, The Economic Times reported.economictimes.com+1

No plan in place

Huang never named a successor, Reuters reported, and commentators have criticized that gap. Speaking on CNBC's "The Exchange," Greenwich Wealth Management Chief Investment Officer Vahan Janjigian pointed to Nvidia's lack of a succession policy and said Nasdaq should revisit its requirements on succession plans, according to CNBC. As part of the overhaul, Nvidia also made former Synopsys CEO Harvey Jones the first chair of its board, CNBC reported.cnbc.com+2

Markets and next steps

Nvidia shares fell 4.34% on Thursday, November 12, after the resignation was announced, according to CNBC. They rose in premarket trading Friday, MarketWatch reported, but slipped again during the session. Arm's shares were down more than 5% after the FT report, according to Reuters.marketwatch.com+2

Kress's first big test as interim CEO is set for Tuesday, November 17, when Nvidia reports its third-quarter fiscal 2027 results, IDC noted. Huang has also been asked to attend a closed-door joint briefing for several congressional committees on November 18, the BBC reported.bbc.com+1