Trump names Tim Cook as Jensen Huang's Nvidia successor

By Sophie Lindqvist

What changed at Nvidia?

Nvidia shares fell more than 10 percentage points at Wednesday’s open after the board announced that Jensen Huang had resigned as chief executive, and the report said traders subsequently recovered much of that ground by buying the dip. The source provided neither a closing share price nor trading volume.

Colette Kress, Nvidia’s executive vice president and chief financial officer, will serve as interim CEO while the company seeks a permanent replacement. The source supplied no succession timetable and no details about board deliberations, severance terms, changes to executive responsibilities or the interim period’s scope.

Does Trump have authority over the appointment?

President Donald Trump proposed Cook on Truth Social hours after the resignation announcement and wrote: “NOW THAT Nvidia CEO JENSEN HUANG, who has done a fantastic job, has resigned, there is only one man to take his place - TIM COOK of Apple. A Legend replaces a Legend! President DONALD J. TRUMP.”

The proposal remained outside Nvidia’s formal process in the source account. The report included no formal nomination, no indication that Cook wanted the job and no response from Cook, Kress or Nvidia’s board. It also offered no evidence for Trump’s claim that Cook was the only qualified successor.

What triggered Huang’s departure?

The source linked Huang’s resignation to reports that he had an extramarital affair with a Megaspeed executive whom it described as suspected of being a Chinese intelligence asset. The account also reported a further affair with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of health care.

The account supplied no documentary evidence, explanation of the alleged intelligence relationship or responses from Huang, Powell or the Megaspeed executive. The claims remained allegations within the source account rather than adjudicated findings.

U.S. intelligence reportedly believed that Huang was the target of a Chinese honeypot operation, according to reports cited by the source. The source further alleged that Trump received a briefing but chose not to act, supposedly to preserve Nvidia’s sales or avoid antagonizing China. No briefing document or official account substantiated that allegation.

Congress has summoned Huang to appear before the Select Committee on the CCP, with lawmakers threatening a subpoena if he declined a voluntary, closed-door meeting. The source did not state whether the meeting occurred or whether Huang responded.

Who else could run Nvidia?

Tim Cook is Apple’s executive chair and served as its CEO from 2011 through 2026, while Trump described him as Apple’s retired CEO. During his tenure, Cook oversaw Apple’s launch of services including Apple Music and Apple TV and its expansion into product categories such as Apple Watch and AirPods, according to the source.

The report also floated Apple chief hardware officer Johny Srouji as a possible successor, yet offered no evidence that Srouji, Cook or another candidate had applied, been approached or received board approval. Kress remains the only confirmed interim leader.

Cook’s record covers Apple’s services and devices, but the account provided no direct evidence about his familiarity with Nvidia’s GPU operations or his willingness to take the job.

What does the succession mean commercially?

Huang and Trump have maintained a close relationship, according to the source, which placed Nvidia at the center of the global AI expansion. Trump previously called Huang “utterly visionary” on tariffs and rescinding the Biden administration’s AI Diffusion Rule.

Those policy positions shape market access and chip sales, but the source provided no revenue or shipment estimate quantifying their effect on Nvidia’s business. After the more-than-10-percentage-point opening drop, the source attributed the recovery to dip buying. That price action shows active trading, not a settled view on the succession. It offered no data on customer orders, data-center GPU demand, foundry capacity, process nodes, wafer sizes or product roadmaps.

The omissions matter because a permanent leader can alter product cadence, pricing and supply commitments, but no source evidence yet demonstrates any such change at Nvidia. Nvidia will report third-quarter fiscal 2027 results next Tuesday, November 17; the source did not specify the calendar year. The financial update and the board’s search for a successor are the next disclosed tests of commercial continuity; no source figure supports a forecast for capacity, pricing or AI-chip competitiveness before then.