Trump Says Tim Cook Should Be Nvidia's Next CEO After Jensen Huang's Resignation

US President Donald Trump has weighed in on the search for Nvidia's next chief executive, saying former Apple boss Tim Cook is the right person to take over from Jensen Huang.

Trump made the suggestion in a post on Truth Social on Thursday, hours after Huang resigned as Nvidia's chief executive and a member of its board. "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," Trump wrote. "A Legend replaces a Legend!"

The post was the president's first public comment on who should lead the world's most valuable AI chipmaker after a week of turmoil at the top of the company. It is a suggestion, not a decision: Nvidia has said its board is running a search for a permanent chief executive and is open to candidates from inside and outside the company. Neither Apple nor Cook has commented publicly on the idea.

Why Trump is backing Cook

Cook's record at Apple is the foundation of Trump's case. He took over as chief executive in 2011, after the death of co-founder Steve Jobs, and led the company for 15 years. Over that period Apple grew from a market value of about $350 billion to roughly $4.5 trillion, becoming the only company worth more than Nvidia today.

Under Cook, Apple launched the Apple Watch and AirPods and built its services business into a major source of revenue. He stepped down as chief executive in September and is now executive chairman of Apple's board, with John Ternus succeeding him as chief executive.

Trump and Cook also have a close working relationship. Cook has stayed in regular contact with the president by phone, joined private dinners with him, and last year presented him with a custom US-made plaque mounted on a 24-carat gold stand to mark Apple's American Manufacturing Program, after Apple said it would invest an additional $100 billion in domestic manufacturing.

What happened at Nvidia

Huang resigned on Thursday, November 12, after reports said he had an affair with a Chinese businesswoman whom US authorities suspect of spying for Beijing. Nvidia has announced that chief financial officer Colette Kress will serve as interim chief executive while the board searches for a permanent successor.

Trump has said he spoke to Huang earlier in the week, and that Huang told him he did not know the woman linked to him was allegedly a spy. The president has also said the FBI is investigating the matter. Huang was one of Trump's closest allies in Silicon Valley, and the relationship between the two dates back to at least 2025.

For background on how the scandal unfolded, read our timeline of the Huang affair and the Nvidia board's response, and our report on Huang's resignation and Kress's appointment as interim CEO.

Who else is in the running

Trump's suggestion is only one name in a wide field. Analysts and investors say the next Nvidia chief needs to combine deep technical understanding, financial acumen and experience running a company of enormous scale, and the names being discussed reflect that mix.

Kress herself is a leading internal candidate. She has been Nvidia's chief financial officer since 2013, previously worked at Microsoft, Cisco and Texas Instruments, and is valued by investors for her authority with Wall Street. The open question, analysts say, is who would supply the technology vision if she took the top job permanently.

Ian Buck, Nvidia's vice president of hyperscale and high-performance computing, is another insider in the frame. He joined the company in 2004 and helped lead the development of CUDA, the software platform that turned Nvidia's graphics processors into the engine of the AI boom. Traders on the prediction market Polymarket rated Buck as the most likely next chief executive, ahead of Kress, Arm chief executive Rene Haas and Cook.

Haas spent seven formative years at Nvidia before joining Arm in 2013 and becoming its chief executive in 2022. Other names raised by chip watchers include former Intel chief executive Pat Gelsinger, AMD chief executive Lisa Su, Micron chief executive Sanjay Mehrotra, Marvell chief executive Matt Murphy and Apple's chief hardware officer Johny Srouji, who reports to Ternus and oversees the Apple Silicon chips that made Apple a chip powerhouse.

For now, the search is only beginning. What is clear is that whoever takes the job will inherit a company at the centre of the global AI boom, under intense scrutiny from Washington, investors and rivals alike — and that the president of the United States has a very public preference for who that should be.

Sources

• Reuters — Trump says ex Apple CEO Cook is 'a legend', should replace Huang at Nvidia
• Reuters — Tim Cook for Nvidia CEO? Trump and the world ponder who's next
• USA Today — Trump says Apple's Tim Cook should replace Jensen Huang as Nvidia CEO
• Barron's — Jensen Huang Is Out at Nvidia. Who Could Replace Him?