Inside the Denny's where Nvidia was founded, a piece of the company's history seemed to have disappeared on Thursday. The diner had taken down the sign honoring Nvidia.

The board's search for Jensen Huang's successor had reached a man who once reported directly to him: Rene Haas.

Nvidia's approach to the Arm chief executive, disclosed Friday in a Financial Times report citing people familiar with the matter, brings the search to a company whose processor technology Nvidia uses. Arm's shares fell nearly 10% at one point on Nov. 13, before recovering some losses.

Huang resigned Thursday amid a board investigation into his conduct. Haas has not commented, and Arm declined to comment.

In response to the report, Nvidia says its search is at an earlier stage. It is still selecting a search firm.

“We have not formally engaged with any potential candidates,” Nvidia said in a statement. “Any speculation regarding individual candidates, whether internal or external, is premature.”

What Changed

AI-generated summary, reviewed by an editor. More on our AI guidelines.

Seven years under Huang

Haas became vice president and general manager of Nvidia's Computing Products Business Unit in October 2006. He worked on notebook graphics processors, Windows-on-Arm and Tegra system-on-chips before leaving for Arm in October 2013.

That put him inside Nvidia's product business for seven years, with a direct reporting line to the founder. Huang mentored him, and Haas has kept close relationships with Huang and some Nvidia directors.

“He ran a business unit there and reported right into Jensen and knows him well,” said Patrick Moorhead, founder of Moor Insights and Strategy.

At Arm, Haas gained experience running a publicly traded semiconductor company. He became its chief executive in February 2022 and led its Nasdaq listing the following year.

Arm's processor technology is used in chips designed by hundreds of companies, including Nvidia, Apple, Qualcomm and MediaTek.

For Shay Boloor, chief market strategist at Futurum Equities, that combination could make him an unusual fit for the role.

“Rene is one of few external candidates who wouldn’t need to be brought up to speed on Nvidia,” Boloor said. He described Haas's familiarity with Nvidia's culture and experience running Arm as “a combination you don’t find very often.”

What Arm stands to lose

Arm designs processor architectures and licenses them to companies that build chips. Customers use that technology as the basis for their own processors, including Nvidia's Grace and Vera CPUs.

Under Haas, Arm has begun selling chips of its own. In March 2026, it launched the AGI CPU, a processor for AI work in data centers, with Meta among its early customers. Selling its own processor puts Arm in competition with some of the companies that license its technology, including Nvidia.

The change extends work Haas has already overseen on more complete processor designs. Arm's Compute Subsystems initiative supplies customers with validated processor platforms, reducing the work required to develop a chip.

Arm says the AGI CPU could generate up to $2 billion in revenue over its 2027 and 2028 fiscal years. That is a company forecast. Its quarter ended Sept. 30, 2026, produced revenue of $1.44 billion, up 27% from a year earlier.

SoftBank owns about 86% of Arm. Since April 21, 2026, Haas has also been chief executive of SoftBank Group International, an operating platform overseeing certain international subsidiaries, while keeping his Arm job. His additional duties include coordinating semiconductor and AI companies within that portfolio.

Arm's annual report describes the company as “particularly dependent on our senior management team, including Mr. Haas.”

Arm's stock closed Friday at $190.53, down 4.63% from its previous close.

The scale gap

Naveen Rao, chief executive of Unconventional AI, credits Haas's work at Arm. He is less convinced that success there answers Nvidia's hiring problem.

“He's done great inside of Arm. I think Arm is a very different company from Nvidia,” Rao said.

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“You need someone who really has that product vision, understands the technical details,” he added.

Charu Chanana, an investment strategist at Saxo, also identifies a difference in business models. Haas brings semiconductor experience and knowledge of leading a listed company, Chanana said, but Nvidia's business is considerably different from Arm's.

Nvidia designs CPUs and graphics processors, networking equipment, complete AI systems and software. Leading it means overseeing that range of products and the supply chain behind them. Arm has about 10,000 employees worldwide. Nvidia has about 42,000. Haas has never managed a company Nvidia's size.

Haas would also arrive with the history of Nvidia's failed attempt to buy Arm. Nvidia agreed to a $40 billion acquisition in 2020. The deal ended in February 2022 over regulatory challenges, leaving Nvidia with a $1.36 billion write-off of its prepayment.

Internal candidate Ian Buck, who oversees Nvidia's hyperscale and high-performance computing business, helped develop CUDA, the software platform used for its AI chips. His experience includes leading the business that serves Nvidia's largest computing customers.

Polymarket's “Next CEO of NVIDIA?” market priced Haas at a 33% chance shortly after Friday's report, at the top of a field of two dozen names.

By Friday afternoon, his price had cooled to about 25.1%, a sliver ahead of Buck at 25%. Other prediction markets, Kalshi and a separate Polymarket market, ranked Buck's odds at roughly 40%.

The reported approach rests on people familiar with the matter. Haas is one of several candidates, with no guarantee that he will receive an offer or accept it.

The board is now chaired by Harvey Jones, a director since Nvidia's founding in 1993 and its first-ever chair. Chief financial officer Colette Kress is serving as interim chief executive.

Kress is due to report Nvidia's third-quarter results on Nov. 17 and hold a companywide meeting on Nov. 18.

Frequently Asked Questions

Has Nvidia offered Rene Haas the CEO job?

No offer has been reported. The Financial Times reported that Nvidia's board approached Haas as one of several candidates, with no guarantee of an offer or acceptance. Nvidia said it has not formally engaged with any potential candidates and is still selecting a search firm.

What did Haas do at Nvidia?

Haas became vice president and general manager of Nvidia's Computing Products Business Unit in October 2006 and reported directly to Jensen Huang. He worked on notebook graphics processors, Windows-on-Arm and Tegra system-on-chips before leaving for Arm in October 2013.

How did Arm's stock react?

Arm's shares fell nearly 10% at one point on Nov. 13 after the report, then recovered some losses and closed at $190.53, down 4.63% from the previous close.

Why do some analysts doubt Haas fits the job?

Naveen Rao, CEO of Unconventional AI, said Arm is a very different company from Nvidia, and Saxo strategist Charu Chanana pointed to the different business models. Arm has about 10,000 employees; Nvidia has about 42,000.

Who runs Nvidia now?

Chief financial officer Colette Kress is interim chief executive, and Harvey Jones, a director since Nvidia's 1993 founding, is the board's first-ever chair. Kress is due to report third-quarter results on Nov. 17.

AI-generated summary, reviewed by an editor. More on our AI guidelines.

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Editor-in-Chief and founder of Implicator.ai. Former ARD correspondent and senior broadcast journalist with 10+ years covering tech. Writes daily briefings on policy and market developments. Based in San Francisco. E-mail: editor@implicator.ai