Nvidia Board: No Search Firm Selected, No Candidate Formally Engaged

• Dispatched: Nov 13, 2026 · 15:46 ET (20:46 UTC)

One-sentence summary: Nvidia's board told CNBC on Friday it has not yet selected a search firm for the permanent CEO role and has not formally engaged any potential candidate, calling speculation about individual names premature — a direct response to a Financial Times report earlier the same day that the board had approached Arm CEO Rene Haas.

Verification status: ✓ Official first-hand statement (Nvidia board statement to CNBC) / Financial Times report on the Haas approach is single-source, not yet confirmed

Core Facts & Consensus Delta:

CNBC published its report at 2026-11-13 14:18 ET / 19:18 UTC. The board said: "We are in the process of selecting a search firm for the Nvidia CEO role." "We have not formally engaged any potential candidates." "Any speculation regarding individual candidates, whether internal or external, is premature."

Earlier the same day, Reuters reported at 2026-11-13 12:08 ET / 17:08 UTC, citing the Financial Times, that the board had approached Arm CEO Rene Haas. Haas is one of several candidates, with no guarantee of a formal offer or acceptance. Reuters said it could not independently verify the report; Arm declined to comment.

Jensen Huang stepped down on 2026-11-12. Colette Kress is interim CEO. Nvidia shares fell more than 2% intraday on Friday, with market value slipping below $4 trillion — down more than $1 trillion over the past month.

Supply-Chain & Market Read-Through: The unresolved succession bears directly on Nvidia's strategic continuity: Huang led its lobbying on China export policy and its largest compute deals, and his departure has already drawn congressional scrutiny and export-control reviews. By publicly cooling candidate speculation, the board signals the market will get no clarity from a successor's identity in the near term, leaving a governance vacuum to dominate sentiment across AI chip stocks.

For the supply chain, Haas is a sensitive name: Arm launched its own data-center CPU in March, competing directly with Nvidia's licensees, so an external appointment from Arm or elsewhere could redraw cooperation boundaries among Nvidia, Arm and AMD. For HBM and memory suppliers (SK Hynix 000660.KS, Samsung Electronics 005930.KS, Micron MU, SanDisk SNDK), Nvidia remains the largest HBM buyer; the pace of orders and capacity decisions during the management transition bears watching, though no official change to orders or deliveries has been announced.

Next Catalysts & Watchpoints:

• Nvidia's fiscal Q3 results and earnings call after the market close on 2026-11-17, when interim CEO Kress will face Wall Street.
• The board's formal announcement once a search firm is selected, and any subsequent candidate disclosures.
• Closed-door House depositions on 2026-12-01—02 and Huang's public Senate Banking Committee testimony on 2026-12-03.

Sources:

• CNBC (Published: 2026-11-13 14:18 ET / 19:18 UTC)
• Reuters (via WNFL) (Published: 2026-11-13 12:08 ET / 17:08 UTC)
• ZeroHedge

Information only, not investment advice.