Nvidia's Board Approached Arm CEO Rene Haas About Succeeding Huang, as Staff Post Calls for His Return
The Financial Times says Arm's chief is one of several names on Nvidia's list, while the board insists no candidate has been formally engaged and an internal post is gathering comments.
Outspoken Digest Technology Desk
Saturday, November 14, 2026/2 min read
Nvidia's board has approached Rene Haas, the chief executive of Arm Holdings, about succeeding Jensen Huang, according to a Financial Times report that Reuters relayed on Friday. The report landed on the day Nvidia ended the week with a roughly $573 billion fall in market value, and it left the company with two stories to manage at once: who runs it next, and whether its own staff want the old chief back.
Neither company has confirmed the approach. This desk covered Huang's departure when it was announced on Thursday, and what follows is only what has been reported since.
Who is Rene Haas, and why would Nvidia want him?
Haas spent seven years at Nvidia before joining Arm in 2013 and becoming its chief executive in 2022, Reuters reports. It quotes one analyst as saying he is among the few external candidates who would not need to be brought up to speed on Nvidia. Reuters stresses that he is one of several candidates and that there is no guarantee he will be offered the job or accept it.
Other names cited by analysts in the same report include Ian Buck, who leads Nvidia's CUDA software, AMD's Lisa Su, Micron's Sanjay Mehrotra, Marvell's Matt Murphy and Apple's Johny Srouji. Reuters adds that Donald Trump floated Tim Cook. Arm's US-listed shares fell about 5 percent on Friday and Nvidia's about 2 percent, it says.
What has Nvidia's board said about the search?
The board's statement, as reported by The Standard in Hong Kong, was that it is selecting a search firm and has not formally engaged any candidates. It added: "Any speculation regarding individual candidates, whether internal or external, is premature." Finance chief Colette Kress is serving as interim chief executive. Nvidia and Arm declined to comment on the specific reports, and Reuters said it could not independently verify them.
Do Nvidia employees want Huang back?
Wired reported that an internal post urging the board to consider employee sentiment has drawn more than 1,600 comments, several of them calling for Huang's reinstatement, Reuters says. Elon Musk wrote on X that a petition to reinstate Huang was under way and that he would sign it. It was not immediately clear whether Musk meant the same internal effort Wired described, and Nvidia did not respond to Reuters on either item.
Reuters says Huang left after revelations of extramarital affairs, one of them involving a suspected Chinese spy. Those allegations have not been tested in any proceeding.
Analysts quoted by Reuters expect the next chief to move away from Huang's hands-on style toward a more institutional structure, with US scrutiny of China chip exports in the background. The next fixed point is the search firm the board says it is still choosing, and until that firm is named the company has no formal process for a permanent chief to point to.
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