Nvidia's Kress Halved a $250 Billion OpenAI Guarantee Before CEO Role

Colette Kress, Nvidia's interim chief executive, spent weeks cutting a proposed $250 billion financial guarantee for OpenAI's Ohio data center project down to half its original size. That renegotiation, reported by The Wall Street Journal, is now the clearest indicator of how Nvidia's investment posture may change under her leadership. Analysts expect a shift from years of aggressive, bet-like spending toward risk management.

Kress was named interim CEO after the departure of Jensen Huang. She is a 13-year veteran of the company who served as chief financial officer. According to Reuters, which cited sources on the 12th, Kress clashed with Huang over AI infrastructure investments criticized as circular financing (deals in which a vendor funds its own customers' purchases, inflating demand for its products).

What do the reports reveal about the internal fight?

Reuters reported that Kress pushed back against Huang's decision to commit $120 billion (about 160 trillion won) in equity investments. The Wall Street Journal added a second front. Kress reportedly worked behind the scenes to check Vice President Nico Caprez, Huang's son-in-law. She raised a range of questions during Nvidia credit-guarantee transactions involving business partners Caprez had brought in.

The OpenAI episode shows the pattern. Nvidia sought in August to sign a deal providing $250 billion in financial guarantees for OpenAI's Ohio data center project. Kress spent several weeks renegotiating the terms. She cut the commitment in half.

Her public posture differed from her private one. On earnings conference calls, she joined Huang in easing market concerns about circular financing. Internally, the Journal reported, she played something of an opposition role. She was wary of the risk of overextension. The gap between the two roles is worth noting. Neither Nvidia nor Kress has publicly confirmed the accounts; all of it rests on unnamed sources.

Why did the board elevate the CFO?

The board's decision reads as an effort to secure steady leadership in a crisis. Bloomberg describes Kress as someone who avoids the public spotlight and chooses words carefully — the opposite of Huang's style. She is likely to focus on managing risk rather than opening new lines of business.

Cathy Logue, CFO practice leader at executive search firm Stanton Chase, endorsed the logic. She said a CFO is the best choice for an interim leader. "While the moment is marked by extreme instability, a crisis is precisely when a company must send the market a message of stability and confidence," Logue said. That is a claim about signaling, not strategy. What Kress will actually do with the investment pipeline remains unstated.

What happens to Huang's deals?

A strategy change could leave Huang's mergers and acquisitions in limbo. In September, Nvidia said it would acquire open-source AI platform Hugging Face for $12.9 billion. It also planned to invest $10 billion in Anthropic through a private placement timed to Anthropic's initial public offering. Both plans could now be subject to revision.

Hugging Face CEO Clément Delangue voiced his dismay on X, formerly Twitter. He wrote that the whole situation was deeply regrettable, that he wished none of it had happened, and that it was a truly sad day.

Does the new board chairman change oversight?

Nvidia has filled its board chair position, vacant since the company's founding. The move is expected to reduce Nvidia's financial risk. Under Huang, the CEO took reports directly from executives and made business decisions quickly and intuitively, with no chairman supervising the role. The board will now supervise and check the CEO's strategy.

Harvey Jones, the new board chairman, once served as a mentor to Huang. He has sat on Nvidia's board for more than 25 years. That tenure cuts both ways. Long service brings institutional knowledge. It also raises the question of how much he will challenge arrangements he watched develop.

The Financial Times raised a similar concern. Neither Jones nor Kress lacks experience, it noted. But the long careers both built at Nvidia under Huang's leadership could prove an obstacle to breaking fully with the past and opening a new era. Experience under the old regime is not independence from it.

Is Huang's return still possible?

Sentiment inside Nvidia favors Huang's return, according to Wired. An internal suggestion-box post by one engineer urged the board to consider employee sentiment before taking action. The post drew more than 1,600 comments. Many called on the board to find a way to bring Huang back.

That number is the strongest measurable signal of internal resistance to the new leadership. It is also only one measure. The board has not responded publicly, and no figure exists for how many of Nvidia's employees hold the opposite view. For now, Kress holds the interim title, the halved OpenAI guarantee marks her method, and every pending deal from the Huang era carries an implicit asterisk.