Jensen Huang resigns as Nvidia CEO, Colette Kress becomes interim chief

Jensen Huang resigns as president and chief executive of Nvidia and leaves its board with immediate effect, the company announced on Thursday. Chief financial officer Colette Kress becomes interim CEO and keeps the CFO job until the board names a permanent successor. Huang co-founded Nvidia 33 years ago and is the only CEO the company has had.

The board will consider internal and external candidates. It also named its first ever chair, Harvey C. Jones, a former CEO and executive chairman of chip design software maker Synopsys.

“Our focus remains on serving our customers, partners, developers and shareholders.”

— Colette Kress, interim CEO and CFO of Nvidia, Nvidia press release on the CEO transition

Quote source: Nvidia, press release, 12 November 2026.

Jones said the board "has full confidence in Colette and the leadership team" and expects operations, customer commitments and the product roadmap to continue without interruption. The release does not mention the scandal or the board's investigation.

How it came to this

Huang admitted on 8 November to an affair with Alice Huang, no relation, an executive at Megaspeed International, a Singapore-based Nvidia customer that US investigators have examined over possible chip smuggling. The New York Times reported that Alice Huang was suspected of acting as an agent for the Chinese government, and Beijing has called the claims a smear. "There is no excuse for what I did. I am deeply sorry," Huang said at the time, Fox Business reported.

Outside counsel and a committee of independent directors ran the board's investigation, and no findings have been published. On Wednesday the NYT reported a second relationship, with a Nvidia vice president who reported to Huang, and Bloomberg reported that the board was working with a search firm.

We covered the board's search this morning, and the full scandal timeline on 9 November.

The market

Nvidia shares fell about 10% in premarket trading to around $155, Yahoo Finance reported, after closing near $174 on Wednesday. Analysts split on how much the change matters:

• Dan Ives of Yorkville Ives cut his price target from $300 to $225
• Rich Schafer of Oppenheimer: "We see massive shoes to fill and no obvious successor."
• Simon Leopold of Raymond James doubts the distraction alters the fundamentals

Most AI labs train and run their models on Nvidia chips, so investors will look for any sign that the change at the top touches demand for training and inference hardware. The first test comes fast: Nvidia reports third quarter results on Tuesday, 17 November, at about 1:20 p.m. Pacific time, and Kress will lead the call.

If you hold Nvidia or chip-heavy funds, watch that call for any change to guidance or to the product roadmap. The premarket drop priced the news, and the call will show whether customers changed their orders.

Nvidia announced the resignation and the interim appointment; the investigation findings and the reported second relationship remain unconfirmed by the company. This report is not investment advice.