Jensen Huang resigns as NVIDIA CEO with immediate effect

By Marcus Bennett

NVIDIA co-founder and CEO Jensen Huang resigned from NVIDIA effective immediately, the company said in a brief release published shortly before 6 a.m. PT.

Why did Huang resign?

NVIDIA and its board have not stated why Huang resigned. The announcement followed weeks of reports and allegations involving multiple extramarital affairs, including geopolitical scrutiny that the company and Huang acknowledged.

• On Sunday, Huang and NVIDIA confirmed an affair involving a Chinese citizen. Huang emailed the company to apologize. The episode drew attention from the U.S. government, which considered whether Huang was the target of a foreign intelligence effort.
• The New York Times then reported a second affair involving NVIDIA employee Kimberly Powell, the company's vice president of health care.
• Media reports said the board held a same-day meeting about Huang and NVIDIA's future after the Powell report.

The events behind Huang's apology had already prompted an independent board investigation. NVIDIA hired Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and former acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Joon H. Kim to lead it. NVIDIA has not formally linked the investigations or personal conduct to the resignation.

Who runs NVIDIA now?

Colette Kress, NVIDIA's executive vice president and chief financial officer, will serve as interim CEO. She has worked at NVIDIA for more than a decade, mainly overseeing finance at a rapidly growing company, and will now lead the company during the search for a permanent chief.

The board said it would consider candidates from inside and outside NVIDIA. It also appointed Harvey C. Jones as chair for the first time in the company's history. Jones is managing partner at Square Wave Ventures and the former CEO of Synopsys.

Kress will lead NVIDIA's Q3 2027 earnings call on Tuesday, November 17. The appointment places the finance chief in front of investors at the company's next scheduled results update.

The board said it had “full confidence in Colette and the leadership team” and expected “the company's operations, customer commitments and product roadmap to continue without interruption.” Kress said the work that had made NVIDIA a leader would continue.

What changes for customers?

Immediately, the disclosed change concerns control rather than the product schedule. NVIDIA said its operations, customer commitments and product roadmap would continue without interruption. It disclosed no order, pricing or guidance changes.

Because the announcement provided no share-price reaction or financial estimate, the immediate market effect remains unquantified. The first measurable test arrives with the November 17 earnings call and management's answers.

The larger governance issue is Huang's degree of control. As co-founder and the only founder still involved, he ran a centralized structure with more than 60 direct reports and set the direction of major bets on CUDA and automotive hardware.

Kress brings financial management to the top job, but the succession must recreate functions that one executive previously combined: technical judgment, product strategy, external influence and operational command. A permanent CEO may alter NVIDIA's balance between hardware and software, although no change has been announced.

NVIDIA's position as the de facto leader in AI makes the succession relevant beyond the company. The unresolved questions concern the hardware-software balance, the investigations and the effect on an AI market that has followed NVIDIA's fortunes.

Who can replace Huang?

Patrick, who was away on assignment when contacted, said: “Jensen is a singular leader in the industry who made a big bet on, and then inspired the industry to develop the current advancements in AI. These will not be easy shoes for NVIDIA to fill.”

The succession comparison with Steve Jobs has limits. Jobs shaped Apple, but he was never as deeply integrated into the company as Huang has been at NVIDIA.

After covering NVIDIA for 21 years, I have periodically met Huang. NVIDIA has always been Huang's company, for better and worse. His departure removes both a demanding manager and a driving force in AI and graphics.

Publicly, NVIDIA ended the relationship on friendly terms. The company described Huang's contributions to the company and the industry as immeasurable and thanked him for his work.

Unknowns remain: how the investigations end, how much authority a successor receives, and whether the AI market feels a strategic shift. Silicon Valley offers candidates, but NVIDIA's board must find someone able to lead a founder-led company without its founder.