Nvidia board approaches Arm chief Rene Haas as Huang successor

Nvidia's board has approached Arm chief executive Rene Haas as a potential successor to Jensen Huang, the Financial Times reported on Friday, while employees inside the chipmaker campaign for the co-founder's return. Haas is one of several people under consideration, people familiar with the matter told the FT, and there is no guarantee he will receive an offer or accept one, Decrypt reported in its account of the story.

Huang stepped down on Thursday, Nov. 12, giving up his roles as president, chief executive and board member after 33 years leading the company he co-founded in 1993. His exit followed reports of extramarital relationships, including one with a business executive suspected by U.S. officials of having Chinese intelligence ties. Nvidia said it had no reason to believe its secrets were compromised, according to Decrypt.

The board told Reuters it was still selecting an executive search firm and had not formally engaged any candidate. "Any speculation regarding individual candidates, whether internal or external, is premature," the board said. Colette Kress, the chief financial officer, is serving as interim chief executive, and longtime director Harvey Jones has become board chair.

Inside Nvidia, an internal suggestion-box post has drawn more than 1,600 comments, many supporting Huang's reinstatement, Crypto Briefing reported, citing Wired's review of internal correspondence. "If you believe in the mission, bring back THE boss," one anonymous employee wrote, Decrypt reported. The board has stressed putting U.S. national and economic security first while an independent investigation proceeds.

Haas, 64, spent seven years at Nvidia as a vice president and general manager of its computing products business before moving to Arm in 2013. He became Arm's chief executive in February 2022, taking over shortly after Nvidia's proposed $40 billion takeover of Arm collapsed under regulatory pressure, and he steered the company back onto Nasdaq in September 2023 at an initial valuation of about $54.5 billion, Decrypt reported. He also sits on SoftBank's board and, since April, has served as chief executive of SoftBank Group International.

Arm shares fell nearly 10% during trading on Nov. 13 before recovering part of the loss to close down about 4.63%, Crypto Briefing reported. Analysts have also floated Nvidia data-center executive Ian Buck and AMD chief Lisa Su as possible successors, though Decrypt said those names are not confirmed appointments or offers. Haas earned an electrical engineering degree from Clarkson University and worked at chip companies Tensilica and Scintera Networks before joining Nvidia in 2006, Decrypt reported. He led Nvidia's computing products business as a vice president and general manager for seven years, then moved to Arm in 2013, rising through strategic alliances and commercial roles to run its intellectual-property products group before taking the chief executive job.

Arm reported $1.44 billion in revenue for the quarter ended September 30, up 27% from a year earlier, with royalties from data-center chips doubling. The company said initial commercial deliveries of its new CPU remain on track for early 2027. A move to Nvidia would require untangling Haas's SoftBank ties, Decrypt reported, particularly because the companies are partners whose interests increasingly overlap in data-center hardware.

Wired reported that the internal post asked the board to weigh employee sentiment when deciding Huang's future, and that several commenters called for him to be reinstated, according to internal correspondence Wired said it reviewed. Other staff demanded transparency around the departure. The campaign shows Huang still has supporters inside Nvidia; it does not mean the board has opened talks to reinstate him, Decrypt reported.

For Nvidia's next leader, the job includes delicate relationships with governments and customers as Washington debates tighter export restrictions on China.

Nvidia is scheduled to report earnings on Nov. 17 with Kress at the helm and the permanent chief executive search still underway.