Nvidia denies contacting Arm CEO amid successor search

Rene Haas, CEO of Arm Holdings [Getty Images]

Nvidia has denied reports that it contacted Arm CEO Rene Haas as a candidate to succeed former CEO Jensen Huang.

Nvidia board denies contacting Arm CEO Haas

Nvidia's board of directors told CNBC on Friday (local time) that it had "not yet formally reached out to any potential candidates."

The Financial Times had earlier reported, citing sources, that the board had contacted Haas as one of the candidates to replace Huang.

The board pushed back, saying "any speculation about specific individual candidates, whether internal or external, is premature," and adding that it is in the process of selecting an outside executive search firm for the CEO role.

After Huang's resignation, the board named Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress as interim CEO while it searches for a permanent successor.

Haas, the subject of the reported contact, worked at Nvidia from 2006 to 2013, rising to vice president. His enduring ties with key figures inside the company have made him one of the most frequently mentioned external CEO candidates.

Haas has led the British chipmaker Arm since 2022, during which time he successfully guided the company through its NASDAQ listing.

Nvidia had attempted to acquire Arm in 2020, but the deal collapsed after competition regulators in the United States, Europe and the United Kingdom raised antitrust concerns.

The Nvidia logo. [Reuters]

Who are the candidates for the next CEO?

Beyond Haas, the leading internal candidates include interim CEO Colette Kress and Vice President Ian Buck.

Kress joined Nvidia in 2013 and has overseen the company's finances for 13 years, playing a central role in its growth. She is the most publicly recognized Nvidia executive after Huang himself.

Huang's trust in her ran so deep that when she once asked how long she would need to remain CFO, he reportedly replied, "Until death do us part."

Buck, the other prominent internal candidate, is credited with the technology that enabled Nvidia to expand beyond gaming graphics into AI.

AMD CEO Lisa Su, credited with reviving the chipmaker from a management crisis and an engineer by training, has been named as a potential candidate for Nvidia's next CEO. [Getty Images]

Lisa Su, CEO of Nvidia rival AMD, has also emerged as a candidate. A veteran executive who earned a doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has led AMD for a decade — during which the company's share price rose 170-fold — Su brings both technical expertise and management credentials. Her family connection to Huang, as his first cousin once removed, has also drawn attention.

Others mentioned include Tim Cook, Apple's executive chairman, and Johny Srouji, Apple's chief hardware officer.

However, given the board's measured approach — starting from the stage of selecting a search firm — it is expected to be some time before the picture becomes clearer.

sjpark@heraldcorp.com