US President Donald Trump has said former Apple chief executive Tim Cook is the only suitable person to take over Nvidia after Jensen Huang’s resignation, writing on Truth Social that one legend should replace another.
Trump posted that with Huang — who had “performed outstanding service” — now resigned, Cook was the only person fit to take his place, Hiru News reported, citing foreign media. He added a line to the effect that one legend was replacing another.
Those words are rendered here from Hiru’s Sinhala translation of the post. The exact English wording of Trump’s message could not be confirmed from the verified sources this desk reached, and is not quoted directly for that reason.
Trump has no authority here
Trump holds no official power over who runs Nvidia. Hiru frames the intervention as unusual and as a demonstration of his closeness to both men — Huang was treated as a close adviser during Trump’s second term and was flown aboard Air Force One to a state visit to China in May.
Crucially, Nvidia’s board has not said it is considering Cook. It named longtime chief financial officer Colette Kress interim chief executive and said it would weigh internal and external candidates; no permanent successor has been chosen. This desk reported Huang’s resignation and Kress’s appointment on Thursday.
What the week has cost
Nvidia’s stock had fallen 12.75% since the start of the week as of Friday’s close, erasing roughly $573 billion in market value, CNN reported. Because Nvidia makes up about 6% of the total value of the S&P 500, CNN notes the decline reaches well beyond the company’s own investors into ordinary retirement and investment accounts.
Kress faces her first major test on Tuesday, when Nvidia reports third-quarter earnings.
How Huang came to resign
Huang resigned on Thursday morning after reports of multiple extramarital relationships, including one with Alice Huang — a Chinese businesswoman and former executive at Nvidia customer Megaspeed, whom US officials had been investigating as a potential national security risk. The two are not related.
The reversal was abrupt. On Sunday the board said it would investigate whether Huang had been the target of a foreign intelligence effort, but expressed confidence in him and said it did not believe company secrets or national security had been compromised. The same day Huang admitted an extramarital affair without naming the other party. Growing national security concerns in Congress, and reports of at least one further relationship, appeared to force the board’s hand: it met on Wednesday night and he was gone the next morning.
Huang had led Nvidia for the 33 years since co-founding it in a Denny’s restaurant in 1993.
A note on how the allegation is described. Hiru’s Sinhala describes Alice Huang as “a woman suspected of being a Chinese spy.” CNN’s formulation is more guarded — that US officials had been investigating her as a potential national security risk — and CNN has separately reported that US intelligence is not certain she spied on Nvidia for China. This desk uses the more cautious wording; no finding against her has been reported.
Two separate hearings
Huang has been called to testify at a closed-door congressional hearing on 1 December, and lawmakers have said they will subpoena him if he does not appear voluntarily. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has agreed to testify before the Senate Banking Committee next month.
That committee is a separate matter from the 1 December hearing. As this desk reported on Friday, Senate Banking chairman Tim Scott asked Huang and Lutnick to appear at a public hearing on 3 December. The two dates refer to different proceedings and should not be merged.
What Trump has said about the affair
Trump said this week that he knew nothing of the allegations that Alice Huang was spying for Beijing, said Jensen Huang was “suffering greatly,” and called the Taiwan-born executive an “amazing person.” Questions remain about what Trump knew and when: Hiru, citing the New York Times, reports that Secretary of State Marco Rubio briefed him about the allegations aboard Air Force One shortly before the aircraft picked Huang up in Alaska en route to Beijing in May.
This desk did not reach the New York Times report and does not treat that account as established.
Not reported
Neither source records any response from Tim Cook, from Apple, or from Nvidia’s board to Trump’s suggestion. Cook’s own position — he stepped down as Apple chief executive and is the company’s chairman — is not addressed in either filing, and no source says he has expressed any interest.
On sourcing: the Tim Cook post rests on Hiru News alone among verified outlets, and Hiru itself attributes it to unnamed “foreign media” rather than its own reporting. CNN’s Friday account of the week does not mention Cook. Several non-verified technology outlets carried the post on 12 November; they are not cited here. The market, hearing and resignation details above are CNN’s.