NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang resigns
By Kazeem Sherifat
Jensen Huang, the man who turned a graphics-chip start-up into the engine of the global artificial intelligence boom, has resigned as chief executive of Nvidia, bringing a sudden end to a 33-year reign that has been engulfed in scandal for days.
Nvidia’s board announced on Thursday that Huang had stepped down as president, chief executive and member of the board, effective immediately. Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress was named interim CEO while the board searches for a permanent successor, considering both internal and external candidates. Kress will keep her CFO duties in the meantime. The board also named Harvey C. Jones as its first-ever chair.
“Jensen’s contributions to NVIDIA are profound,” the company said in its statement, describing Nvidia as one of the most consequential technology companies in the world. Kress, who joined Nvidia in 2013 after senior finance roles at Microsoft and Cisco, said she was committed to building on the “extraordinary foundation” Huang created.
The resignation ends a weeks-long saga that began with reports, first carried by The New York Times, that Huang had a relationship with a woman identified in media reports as Alice Huang, who is not related to him. Some outlets reported that US officials suspected her of working for the Chinese government. China has rejected the espionage allegations entirely, and no findings establishing national security wrongdoing have been made public.
On 8 November, Huang published an apology to Nvidia staff admitting he had been unfaithful to his wife. “There is no excuse for what I did,” he reportedly wrote, adding that leading Nvidia was the privilege of his life and that he would work to earn back colleagues’ confidence. The same day, the board launched an independent investigation into reports that he had been targeted by a foreign intelligence effort. It said it had no reason to believe company secrets or national security had been compromised, and Nvidia has denied that Huang shared trade secrets or sensitive information.
The pressure grew on Wednesday. The New York Times reported a separate relationship involving an Nvidia executive who reported to Huang, according to Variety and MakeUseOf. The Wall Street Journal reported that the board was weighing whether to oust him, and Reuters reported that directors met on 11 November to consider his future. Nvidia’s announcement did not explicitly link his departure to the investigation or the allegations.
Investors reacted sharply. Nvidia shares fell more than four per cent on Monday after Huang confirmed the relationship and the probe was announced, according to Swedish financial outlet Dagens PS. Variety reported that the stock had already sunk to eight-month lows over national security concerns, and MakeUseOf reported a fall of more than 10 per cent in premarket trading after the resignation. Shareholders have also moved to sue Huang and Nvidia, per Dagens PS.
The timing is awkward for the company. Nvidia is due to report third-quarter fiscal 2027 earnings on 17 November, five days after Huang’s exit, which makes it Kress’s first major test. Its most recent quarterly results showed revenue of $96.2 billion, up 106 per cent year on year, with data centre sales alone at $89 billion, according to figures cited by MakeUseOf. Nvidia insists its operations, customer commitments and product roadmap will continue without interruption.
Huang co-founded Nvidia in 1993, reportedly using a Denny’s restaurant in San Jose, California, as an informal office, and has led it ever since. Under him, the company moved from gaming graphics into the chips that power modern AI, making it one of the most valuable companies in the world. Earlier this year he told reporters at CES that the secret to lasting as CEO was “don’t get fired” and “don’t get bored”, and that he would stay “for as long as I deserve it”.
Nvidia’s chips have also been at the centre of US-China tensions. The US Commerce Department had investigated whether Nvidia helped smuggle chips into China before the matter was moved to the Justice Department, Variety reported. Nvidia has not announced a permanent successor.