Trump’s Tim Cook pitch shows how political Nvidia’s CEO search has become

Hours after Nvidia’s CEO resigned (coverage), President Trump posted on Truth Social that only one man could replace him: Tim Cook, Apple’s executive chairman and former CEO, “a legend replacing a legend.” Nvidia’s board picks its CEO, not the White House. But the most important company in AI hardware is now searching for a leader in the middle of a national security scandal, with the president weighing in publicly.

This isn’t a real candidacy yet. TechCrunch notes it is anyone’s guess whether the post reflects a considered view or a passing thought, and nothing suggests Cook is interested or the board is talking to him. Interim CEO Colette Kress (profile) is running the company while the board searches.

The idea isn’t absurd, and it isn’t only the president’s. Jeffrey Sonnenfeld of the Yale School of Management argued in Time that Cook belongs on the list, pointing to his record following a larger-than-life founder at Apple. Nvidia is entering exactly that post-founder phase. Cook stepped down as Apple’s CEO on September 1 after 15 years, handing the role to John Ternus (Apple’s Ternus era); as executive chairman he still handles global policy relationships, including with China. Sonnenfeld had earlier put Huang’s odds of keeping his job at about 50-50 (coverage).

Nvidia’s crisis centers on alleged Chinese intelligence ties and possible chip diversion to China. A successor with deep China relationships might look like a steady hand on a difficult market, or exactly the wrong signal to a Congress preparing investigations (Congress).

A CEO seen as the president’s pick would also carry the closeness to the White House that made the last leadership so exposed. Experts had already worried about Huang’s sway over Trump’s AI policy (coverage), and he once told the president on speakerphone that they wouldn’t let an AI slowdown happen (coverage).

Nvidia sits at the center of export policy, data center financing and the open-model debate. Its next CEO should be chosen on governance and security credibility, not a social media endorsement. For a wider field of names, see our successor list. More in our Nvidia coverage.