Jensen Huang resigns as Nvidia's chief; Colette Kress steps in

What happened

Nvidia said on Thursday 12 November that its board had accepted Jensen Huang's resignation as president, chief executive and director, effective immediately, and named finance chief Colette Kress interim chief executive. ^{[1, 2]}

The board accepted the resignation on Wednesday 11 November, the filing shows. Kress, 59, stays executive vice president and chief financial officer, a post she has held since 2013. Harvey C. Jones, 73, a director since 1993, became the board's first chair. ^{[1, 2, 3]}

The company gave no reason for the departure. It came days after Huang told staff he had been 'unfaithful to his wife' and the board opened an investigation into reports that he was the target of a foreign intelligence effort, ABC News reported. ^{[3, 5]}

Why it matters

Huang founded Nvidia in 1993 and ran it with no heir apparent or formal succession plan, TechCrunch reported. Annual revenue grew from $4.13 billion in fiscal 2014 to $215.9 billion in fiscal 2026 during Kress's years as finance chief, Al Jazeera reported. KeyBanc's John Vinh wrote that the departure 'represents a material increase in strategic, organizational, and execution risk,' according to CNBC. ^{[3, 6, 4]}

How it came to this

Press reports tied Huang to Alice Huang, no relation, an executive at the Singapore cloud company Megaspeed who is alleged to have worked for Chinese intelligence, Al Jazeera reported. China's government called the allegations 'baseless and purely slanderous smears against China,' ABC News reported. ^{[5, 6]}

The board has said it has no reason to believe national security was compromised, according to Al Jazeera. On Wednesday 11 November the New York Times reported a second relationship, with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia's vice president of health care. A person familiar with the matter told CNBC the board's sentiment 'quickly turned' after that report. ^{[4, 6]}

What settles it next

Nvidia said it will report its third quarter of fiscal 2027 on Tuesday 17 November, with a call at 2 p.m. Pacific time. The board said it is searching for a permanent chief executive and will consider internal and external candidates. ^[2]

The board has hired the law firm Wachtell Lipton to investigate the intelligence allegations, CNBC reported. ^[4]

Who it reaches

Nvidia (NVDA) is direct: the change at the top is its own, filed with the SEC. CoreWeave (CRWV) and Nebius (NBIS) are adjacent: Nvidia invested $2 billion in each this year, TechCrunch reported. ^{[1, 3]}

Super Micro Computer (SMCI) is adjacent: Semafor reported a Justice Department probe into whether groups linked to Alice Huang diverted its hardware to China, CNBC reported. ^[4]