Will the 'Jensen Huang Vacancy' Drag On?... NVIDIA: “We Haven’t Officially Contacted Anyone Yet”

[Financial News] NVIDIA has officially denied media reports that it contacted Arm CEO Rene Haas as it searches for a successor to fill the vacancy left by CEO Jensen Huang.
NVIDIA’s board told U.S. business news network CNBC on the 13th (local time), “We have not yet officially contacted any potential candidates,” adding, “Any speculation about any specific candidate, whether internal or external, is premature.”
It added, “We are in the process of selecting an external headhunting firm for the CEO position,” explaining that preparations to appoint a successor CEO are at an early stage.
After former CEO Huang resigned the previous day amid a personal-life scandal and a national security controversy, NVIDIA’s board named CFO Colette Kress interim CEO and began looking for a permanent successor.

The UK’s Financial Times (FT) previously reported, citing sources, that NVIDIA’s board had contacted Haas as one of the candidates to succeed former CEO Huang.
Haas worked at NVIDIA from 2006 to 2013, rising to the rank of vice president. He still maintains close ties with key figures at the company and has been widely viewed as one of the leading external candidates for the CEO post.
Since 2022, he has led British semiconductor company Arm, successfully steering its Nasdaq listing. He is also seen as having proven his management abilities.
NVIDIA tried to acquire Arm in 2020, but the deal fell through after competition authorities in the United States, Europe and the United Kingdom opposed it over monopoly concerns.
Arm is currently a subsidiary in which Japan’s SoftBank Group holds about 86% of the shares, and Haas also oversees SoftBank’s overseas operations.
Besides Haas, the potential candidates to lead NVIDIA include internal candidates interim CEO Kress and Vice President Ian Buck, as well as external candidates such as AMD CEO Lisa Su, Apple Executive Chairman Tim Cook and Apple Chief Hardware Officer (CHO) Johny Srouji.
Meanwhile, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk also called for former CEO Huang to return, writing on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), “A petition to reinstate Jensen is underway,” and, “I will sign it too.”
[email protected] Lee Gu-sun Reporter