Nvidia hasn’t selected search firm for permanent Huang replacement, board tells CNBC

Nvidia hasn't yet selected a search firm to work with in identifying a successor for former CEO Jensen Huang , the company's board told CNBC.

"We are in the process of selecting a search firm for the Nvidia CEO role," the board said in a Friday statement. "We have not formally engaged any potential candidates."

The comments come after speculation has swirled about who might be tapped to replace Huang. Nvidia announced Thursday that Huang would step down as CEO of the chipmaker after multiple reported affairs, including one with a woman purported to be a Chinese spy.

Nvidia named CFO Colette Kress as interim CEO and said it will begin a search for a permanent CEO to replace Huang, adding that it will consider both internal and external candidates. Kress conducted her first meeting as interim CEO on Thursday afternoon with high-level executives at Nvidia's headquarters in Santa Clara, Calif., according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named in order to discuss internal details.

The Financial Times reported Friday that Nvidia's board has approached Arm CEO Rene Haas in its search for Huang's successor, citing people familiar with the matter.

Nvidia's board said, "Any speculation regarding individual candidates, whether internal or external, is premature."

Before joining the SoftBank-backed chip company in 2013, Haas spent seven years at Nvidia, serving in a variety of roles including vice president of its computing products business.

Nvidia shares fell more than 2% on Friday, dragging the company's market cap below $4 trillion as investors digested the news of Huang's departure, and the specter of ongoing probes into his conduct.

On Tuesday, Nvidia said it had retained Wachtell Lipton to investigate allegations that Huang had been the target of a foreign intelligence effort, following revelations that its then-CEO had an intimate relationship with Alice Huang, who several outlets reported is suspected of working for Chinese intelligence.

Three House committees have asked Huang to appear for briefings, and renewed those calls even after the CEO's resignation. The Senate Banking Committee has also requested that Huang and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick testify to discuss "serious concerns about our national security," and how the company's top AI chips have reportedly ended up in China.