Nvidia Board Approaches Arm CEO Rene Haas to Succeed Huang After 33 Years

Board Turns to Arm's Rene Haas

Nvidia's board has approached Arm chief executive Rene Haas as a potential successor to Jensen Huang, according to people familiar with the matter, placing a former Nvidia executive in contention for one of the largest leadership jobs in technology. Haas is one of several candidates under consideration, and there is no guarantee he will receive or accept an offer. The board, responding to questions about the approach, said it is still selecting an external executive search firm and has not formally engaged any candidate: “Any speculation regarding individual candidates, whether internal or external, is premature,” it said. Haas keeps close ties to Huang and to some Nvidia directors, which is one reason his name surfaced early among external options. Huang resigned Thursday after 33 years leading the chipmaker he co-founded, following reports of extramarital relationships, including one with a business executive suspected by U.S. officials of having Chinese intelligence ties. The company said it had no reason to believe its secrets were compromised. Chief financial officer Colette Kress now serves as interim CEO, and longtime director Harvey Jones has taken the board chair. Haas, 64, joined Nvidia in 2006 and spent seven years as 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, months after Nvidia's proposed $40 billion takeover of the chip-design licensor collapsed under regulatory pressure. Under his watch Arm returned to the Nasdaq in September 2023 at an initial valuation of about $54.5 billion, one of that year's largest market debuts. Arm now licenses its chip architecture to companies including Apple, Amazon and Qualcomm, and reported $1.44 billion in revenue for the quarter ended September 30, up 27% from a year earlier, with data-center royalties doubling. SoftBank owns roughly 86% of Arm, and Haas sits on SoftBank's board while also running SoftBank Group International since April.

NVIDIA (NVDA) stock last traded at $161.52, down 3.39% over 24 hours, and COINOTAG's composite scoring maps the nearest strong resistance at $170.23, a Fibonacci retracement level rated 81/100, with the strongest support below the market at $147.19, scored 71/100. The 24-hour range of $158.69 to $171.88 shows trading already pushed through the $170.23 resistance before pulling back, so the level has been tested since the leadership news broke. Momentum stays bearish: the daily relative strength index reads 26.1 and the trend is a confirmed downtrend. In derivatives, stock perpetual open interest stands near $459.8 million with a funding rate of 0.0405% per interval, and the earnings report on November 17 is the next scheduled test of these levels.

Employee Petition Tops 1,600 Comments

Beyond Haas, the field of names under discussion is broad. Internally, attention has centered on Kress herself and on Ian Buck, the company's data-center executive; among external candidates, AMD chief Lisa Su, Apple executive chairman Tim Cook and Apple hardware chief Johny Srouji have all been floated, though none of these names amounts to a confirmed appointment or an offer. Family members of Huang who work at the company, including Madison and Spencer Huang, were mentioned as possibilities at one stage, but that speculation has faded since his departure. Support for Huang inside the company remains visible. An internal suggestion-box post has drawn more than 1,600 comments, many of them urging his reinstatement, and one anonymous employee wrote: “If you believe in the mission, bring back THE boss.” Other staff members have demanded transparency around the circumstances of his exit. The campaign shows Huang retains a base of support among employees; it does not mean the board has opened talks to reinstate him. Elon Musk, the SpaceX chief executive, added a public voice, saying on X that a petition to bring Jensen back was underway and that he would sign it. The board's stated plan, which starts with the selection of a search firm, points to a deliberately measured process, so a permanent appointment is unlikely to arrive quickly. The next fixed date in the story is November 17, when the company reports earnings with Kress at the helm and the succession search still open. Whoever takes the job inherits the company's lead in AI chips along with delicate relationships with governments and customers, while Washington debates tighter export restrictions on China.