Nvidia’s board has approached Arm Holdings CEO Rene Haas as a potential successor to Jensen Huang, who stepped down as the chipmaker giant’s chief after a controversy over affair with an alleged Chinese spy on Thursday, Financial Times reported, citing people aware of the matter.This comes even as the $4 trillion AI chip company is struggling to ready itself after Huang’s affair fallout. Meanwhile, some Nvidia staff are reportedly urging the company to bring back Huang.Huang’s departure followed revelations of extramarital affairs, including an alleged relationship involving Alice Huang, a former executive of Singapore-based data centre operator Megaspeed who is suspected by US intelligence officials of working for China’s Ministry of State Security, triggering a leadership crisis at the company and sending shockwaves through the artificial intelligence industry.Haas has emerged as a possible contender following Huang’s exit. He previously spent seven years at Nvidia, where he rose to the position of vice president and general manager of its computing products business, before joining Arm in 2013.Also Read | Who will lead Nvidia after Jensen Huang? Meet the potential successorsSingaporean authorities investigated Alice Huang over suspected false declarations but clarified that she was not investigated for espionage, while China has rejected the spying allegations. A second reported affair involved Nvidia healthcare vice-president Kimberly Powell, while Reuters reported a third relationship with another company employee whose identity remains unknown.Huang admitted to being unfaithful to his wife, but Nvidia’s board said it had no reason to believe company secrets or national security had been compromised and launched an independent investigation.According to the Financial Times, Haas is among several individuals being considered for the position, although there is no certainty that he will receive an offer or accept the role. Nvidia’s Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress is currently serving as interim CEO.Story continues below this adNvidia’s board said it was selecting a search firm to oversee the appointment process and had not formally approached any prospective candidates.“Any speculation regarding individual candidates, whether internal or external, is premature,” the board said in a statement.Meanwhile, a longtime Nvidia engineer had urged the board, through an internal post, to take employee sentiment into account before making any decisions, Wired reported late Thursday.The post has reportedly attracted more than 1,600 comments, with several employees calling on the board to find a way to reinstate Huang, according to internal correspondence reviewed by the publication. Nvidia employs approximately 42,000 people worldwide.Story continues below this adBillionaire Elon Musk also claimed on X that a petition seeking Huang’s reinstatement was underway and said he would sign it. However, it remained unclear whether Musk was referring to the internal employee initiative reported by Wired.Nvidia declined to comment on the Wired report or Musk’s post, while Arm also declined to respond. Reuters said it could not independently verify the reports.Haas took over as Arm’s CEO in 2022 and oversaw its Nasdaq listing the following year. The British company develops processor architectures and licenses them to manufacturers, with its technology widely used in smartphones and increasingly in computers.Shay Boloor, chief market strategist at Futurum Equities, said Haas’ previous experience at Nvidia and his leadership at Arm could make him a distinctive candidate.Story continues below this ad“Rene is one of few external candidates who wouldn’t need to be brought up to speed on Nvidia,” Boloor said, adding that Haas’ understanding of the company’s culture alongside his experience running Arm was “a combination you don’t find very often.”Arm’s US-listed shares closed approximately 5% lower, while Nvidia shares fell around 2%. The latter’s market capitalisation losses for the week reached approximately $573 billion.Analysts believe Nvidia’s next chief executive could adopt a different leadership approach from Huang, whose nearly three-decade tenure was characterised by direct involvement in engineering strategies, negotiations over technology exports to China and investments across the AI ecosystem.Among the potential internal contenders is Kress, regarded by analysts as a steady financial leader, and veteran engineer Ian Buck, who led the development of CUDA, Nvidia’s software platform powering its AI chips.Story continues below this adOther names discussed by industry analysts include AMD CEO Lisa Su, Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra, Marvell chief Matt Murphy and Apple’s hardware chief Johny Srouji.Former Apple CEO Tim Cook has also been suggested by US President Donald Trump as Nvidia weighs whether its next leader should prioritise financial stability, technical expertise or experience managing a major global technology company.(With inputs from Reuters)