Nvidia has turned to one of the most familiar faces from its own past as the company searches for a successor to Jensen Huang. The board has approached Arm Holdings CEO Rene Haas, the Financial Times reported on Friday.Haas is among several candidates being considered for the top job after Huang resigned on Thursday following extramarital affairs, including relationships with two Nvidia employees and a Chinese businesswoman whom US intelligence suspects of being a Chinese intelligence asset.For now, Nvidia finance chief Colette Kress is serving as interim CEO as the company begins the difficult task of deciding what comes after Huang's more than three-decade rule.The search is already revealing how difficult that transition could be.
Huang was not simply Nvidia's chief executive. He was deeply involved in engineering decisions, the company's China strategy and its huge bets on the artificial intelligence industry.
WHO IS RENE HAAS?Haas would bring something few outside candidates can match because of his direct experience inside Nvidia. He spent seven years at the company, eventually becoming vice president and general manager of its computing products business.
He left Nvidia in 2013 and joined Arm, where he became chief executive in 2022.Arm is a British company that designs the basic technology used to build processors for devices such as smartphones, computers and data centres. It licenses this technology to other companies, which then use it in their own products.
Under Haas, Arm went public on Nasdaq in 2023. The British chip designer develops processor architectures and licenses them to companies that build their own chips.
Its technology has long been dominant in smartphones and is now being pushed further into computers and other markets.His Nvidia background could make Haas a particularly attractive option for a board trying to preserve the company's technical edge without simply finding another version of Huang. The possibility of Haas taking over also comes as Nvidia faces a very different environment from the one Huang dominated for decades.The company is under growing regulatory pressure, while US lawmakers are pushing for tighter restrictions on the export of advanced Nvidia chips to China.
The next CEO could therefore inherit not only an AI powerhouse but also a company increasingly caught in the middle of Washington's technology battle with Beijing.THE SEARCH TO REPLACE NVIDIA'S 'CHIEF CONDUCTOR'Analysts have already been debating what Nvidia might look like without Huang at the helm. Some expect the company to move away from the highly personal, hands-on leadership style that defined Huang's tenure.
He was known for personally steering engineering roadmaps, negotiating over China exports and making enormous investment decisions across the AI ecosystem.A new chief executive could instead bring a more institutional management structure to Nvidia.Kress is considered a steady financial operator and is already holding the interim role. Another internal contender is veteran engineer Ian Buck, who played a key role in developing CUDA, Nvidia's software platform that has become central to its AI chips.The board is also looking outside Nvidia.AMD CEO Lisa Su has been mentioned by analysts, while Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra is another name being discussed.
Marvell CEO Matt Murphy and Apple hardware chief Johny Srouji have also been floated as possible contenders.US President Donald Trump has even suggested former Apple CEO Tim Cook as a potential choice.However, Nvidia has yet to appoint a firm to help find a successor to former CEO Jensen Huang, the company's board told CNBC. In a statement on Friday, the board said the process of choosing a firm was still underway and that it had not formally approached any candidates.JENSEN HUANG TURNS TO PAUL WEISSAs Nvidia looks ahead, Huang himself has also begun dealing with the fallout from his sudden departure.
Huang has retained Paul Weiss, a prominent New York law firm known for representing major corporations and executives facing regulatory scrutiny, misconduct allegations and reputational crises.Paul Weiss, Nvidia and a spokesperson for Huang did not immediately comment on Friday on the nature of the firm's work for him.The firm has more than 1,500 lawyers and has represented major corporate clients, while also maintaining a high-profile political and legal presence in Washington. Its relationship with Trump has been particularly controversial.
Paul Weiss reached a deal with Trump last year after the president issued an executive order targeting the firm. The agreement drew criticism from parts of the legal profession and Democratic circles.The firm also has a roster of former senior Justice Department officials who can become involved when clients face serious legal or regulatory problems.- Ends