Nvidia’s board has approached Arm chief executive Rene Haas as a potential successor to Jensen Huang, the Financial Times reported on Friday, in the first sign of how the chipmaker plans to fill one of the most consequential jobs in technology.
Haas is one of several candidates under consideration, people familiar with the matter told the newspaper, and there is no guarantee he will be offered the role or accept it. The approach is the first reported contact with an outside candidate since Huang resigned on Thursday after 33 years leading the company he co-founded.
Haas, 64, is a natural fit on paper. He spent seven years at Nvidia before taking over Arm in 2022, led the British chip designer’s Nasdaq listing in 2023, and has pushed Arm into making chips for AI data centres — the market Nvidia dominates. The two companies are deeply intertwined: Arm’s designs sit inside many of the systems that run on Nvidia hardware.
The board moved quickly to play down the report. It said 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,” it said in a statement. Arm declined to comment.
Meanwhile, a campaign inside Nvidia to bring Huang back is gathering force. An internal post urging the board to weigh employee sentiment over Huang’s future has drawn more than 1,600 comments, many calling for his reinstatement, according to Wired. Elon Musk said separately that a petition to reinstate Huang was under way and that he would sign it.
Huang stepped down on Thursday after reports of extramarital affairs, including one with a Chinese businesswoman whom US officials suspect of spying for Beijing. He apologised for being unfaithful to his wife and for disappointing the company. Independent directors, assisted by outside lawyers, are investigating whether Huang was the target of a foreign intelligence operation. The spying allegation has not been independently verified, and Beijing has denied the woman is a spy.
Chief financial officer Colette Kress is serving as interim chief executive, with longtime director Harvey Jones becoming board chair. Nvidia is due to report earnings on Tuesday, with Kress at the helm. The shares have fallen more than 30 per cent since their 6 October closing high, wiping more than $1.8 trillion from the company’s market value.
The report that the board has approached Haas rests on a single source, the Financial Times, citing people familiar with the matter; Reuters said it could not independently verify it.
Sources: Financial Times via Reuters — “Nvidia approaches Arm CEO Haas as employees seek Huang’s return, reports say” (https://kwsn.com/2026/11/13/arms-haas-approached-by-nvidia-board-as-part-of-ceo-search-ft-reports/); Decrypt — “Could a Former Nvidia Executive Replace Jensen Huang? Arm’s Rene Haas Emerges as Candidate” (https://demo.decrypt.co/383276/nvidia-arm-ceo-rene-haas-replace-jensen-huang)
