President Donald Trump publicly endorsed former Apple CEO Tim Cook as the next chief executive of Nvidia, shortly after the chipmaker confirmed Jensen Huang's resignation following revelations about relationships with two women, one alleged to be a Chinese spy.
Trump wrote on Truth Social: '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!' The post was his first reaction to Huang's departure, according to Yahoo Finance.
Prediction markets responded modestly. A Polymarket contract on Cook becoming Nvidia CEO last traded at 6 cents at 11:01 a.m. Eastern on Thursday, implying a 6% chance. That was about half an hour after Trump's post. The contract has drawn less than $2,000 in volume within a book of about $486,000. Polymarket traders still favor internal candidates: Ian Buck at 32% and interim chief Colette Kress at 23%. Kalshi traders assigned similar odds of 35% for Buck and 29% for Kress.
Nvidia has named CFO Colette Kress as interim chief executive and said it will consider internal and external candidates. The company named Harvey Jones as its first board chair earlier Thursday. The board has not signaled any intention to recruit Cook, and there is no indication Cook wants the job. Cook currently serves as Apple's executive chair after 15 years as CEO from 2011 to 2026, with John Ternus now running Apple.
Before Trump's message, Wedbush analyst Dan Ives had called Cook a 'dark horse' candidate. Bernstein senior analyst Stacy Rasgon told CNBC: 'Who is the right person now to make the decisions for the next 10 years? I don't intuitively know who that person would be.' Ten Cap's Jun Bei Liu said Nvidia is likely to favor an internal appointment initially but could look externally for a more permanent replacement, and noted Cook's global supply chain experience.
Cook's credentials include leading Apple past $1 trillion, $2 trillion and $3 trillion market capitalisation milestones; Apple shares gained more than 2,200% during his tenure, with over 3 billion iPhones sold and nearly $900 billion returned to shareholders through buybacks. Saxo strategist Charu Chanana said Cook could reassure investors but would need strong technical leadership alongside him given Nvidia's dependence on semiconductor innovation.
This is not the first time Trump has leaned on semiconductor boardrooms. In August 2025, he wrote that Intel chief executive Lip-Bu Tan 'must resign, immediately,' which was described as an extraordinary intervention in a private-sector company. In this case, Trump is recommending a hire rather than demanding an exit.
Equity markets reflected the uncertainty: Nvidia traded at $165.43 at 11:01 a.m., down 4.8% after touching $148.80 at the open, near a $3.99 trillion market value. Apple was up 0.8%, with a market value around $5.21 trillion. Analysts noted that any board choice now has to look like the directors' own after Trump's public intervention, and the odds of a permanent chief before year-end may drift lower.
