Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Has Resigned, Colette Kress Takes Over

Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang has resigned with immediate effect, ending a 33-year tenure at the chipmaker he co-founded and transformed into a $4 trillion company at the centre of the global artificial intelligence boom.

The company said today that Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress will take over as interim chief executive while the board searches for a permanent successor. The search will consider both internal and external candidates.

“The Board has full confidence in Colette and the leadership team, and we expect the company’s operations, customer commitments and product roadmap to continue without interruption,” board chairman Harvey Jones said in a statement.

Kress will retain her position as executive vice president and finance chief while serving as interim CEO. She joined Nvidia in September 2013 after holding senior finance positions at Microsoft, Cisco and Texas Instruments.

The leadership change follows mounting scrutiny of Huang’s personal and professional relationships, including allegations involving a businesswoman, Alice Huang, who reportedly has links to a Chinese company and Nvidia customer, Megaspeed. The U.S. intelligence community had raised concerns about her alleged connections to Chinese intelligence.

Huang, 63, apologised on Sunday for being “unfaithful to my wife,” without providing details. The New York Times subsequently reported a separate alleged relationship involving Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of healthcare.

Nvidia’s board had commissioned law firm Wachtell Lipton to investigate allegations concerning potential national security risks and the possibility that sensitive company information had been compromised. Huang denied allegations that he had jeopardised national security or exposed Nvidia secrets.

The controversy has also drawn attention to Nvidia’s compliance with U.S. export controls after reports that companies based in Singapore and Malaysia had circumvented restrictions to access its technology.

Huang’s departure comes as Nvidia faces growing scrutiny over its influence on the artificial intelligence industry and its extensive financial relationships with companies building AI infrastructure.

The chipmaker has become a central supplier, investor and financier in the AI ecosystem, backing companies that purchase its graphics processing units (GPUs) and supporting financing arrangements for data centre expansion. Its financial commitments to other companies have been estimated at about $400 billion, raising questions about the industry’s reliance on interconnected investment and financing arrangements.

Nvidia’s shares fell sharply following the announcement, dropping more than 13% at the opening bell and pushing the company’s market capitalisation below $4 trillion. The stock had closed at $173.73 on Wednesday, down from a record closing high of $239.24 on October 6.

The decline has erased about $2 trillion in market value since the October peak, with shares losing more than $740 billion since Friday’s close.

The sell-off extended to companies operating so-called neocloud businesses, which rely heavily on Nvidia’s processors to provide computing infrastructure. CoreWeave shares fell nearly 12%, IREN dropped 8%, while Nebius declined 17%.

Despite the leadership upheaval, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the country’s AI infrastructure expansion would continue, describing Nvidia as a structurally important company.

“The reality is the AI buildout, data centers, the next industrial revolution — that’s happening,” Greer told CNBC.

“And obviously, we remain concerned,” he added. “We want to make sure that when we’re selling our chips to the world, we want the world to be on the AI stack, but we want the crown jewels to remain in U.S. hands or in the hands of our allies.”

Nvidia’s rise accelerated after OpenAI launched ChatGPT in late 2022, triggering a surge in demand for its GPUs, which power the training and deployment of artificial intelligence models. Its shares have gained roughly 14-fold since the launch, despite recent volatility.

Huang also cultivated relationships with major technology companies, investors and policymakers, becoming one of the most influential figures in the global AI industry. His engagement with U.S. President Donald Trump included joining a presidential trip to China in May and publicly supporting the administration’s AI ambitions.

Nvidia has built an extensive network of customers beyond major cloud providers, including AI startups and data centre operators. Its role as a supplier, investor and financing partner has made Huang a prominent voice in the sector.

“He’s Mr. AI. He speaks for the industry,” said Jeff Christian, chief executive of executive search firm Christian and Timbers. “He’s connected financially to everybody either through partnerships, or through lending the money to buy chips.”

The company said it would maintain its previously announced schedule for releasing fiscal third-quarter results on November 17, with results expected at about 1:20 p.m. Pacific time, followed by an earnings call at 2 p.m.

Jones, who joined Nvidia’s board in 1993, was also named the company’s first-ever board chairman. He previously led chip-design software maker Synopsys and co-founded technology companies Daisy Systems and Tensilica.

Nvidia has not indicated when it expects to complete the search for Huang’s permanent replacement.

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