Jensen Huang is no longer the CEO of Nvidia. On November 12, Nvidia’s board announced that Huang had resigned as president, chief executive officer and board member, effective immediately. He co-founded the company in 1993 and had led it for 33 years, turning a graphics chip startup into the company at the center of the AI boom.
The resignation comes just days after Nvidia’s board opened an investigation into reports about Huang’s relationship with a former tech executive whom U.S. intelligence officials reportedly suspect of working for China. We covered those reports, and Congress’s request for a briefing, on November 9.
Who is running Nvidia now
Nvidia named Colette Kress, its executive vice president and chief financial officer, as interim CEO. She will keep her CFO role while the board searches for a permanent chief executive, and Nvidia says it will consider both internal and external candidates. Kress joined Nvidia in September 2013 and previously spent nearly 25 years in finance roles at companies including Cisco and Microsoft.
“I am committed to building on the extraordinary foundation Jensen created over the last 33 years,” Kress said in Nvidia’s announcement, adding that the company’s focus remains on its customers, partners, developers and shareholders.
Nvidia gets its first board chair
As part of the shake-up, Nvidia’s board appointed Harvey C. Jones as its first-ever chair. Jones is a longtime technology executive and venture investor who previously served as CEO and executive chairman of Synopsys, a major maker of chip design software.
Jones said the board has full confidence in Kress and the leadership team, and that it expects Nvidia’s operations, customer commitments and product roadmap “to continue without interruption.” In other words, Nvidia wants customers waiting on its AI chips and GeForce graphics cards to know that nothing changes on the product side.
Why Huang stepped down
Nvidia’s announcement doesn’t give a reason for the resignation. It follows a week of reports about Huang’s personal conduct, which he addressed in a letter to employees on November 8, and a board investigation that Nvidia says is being led by former acting U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim and the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. When it opened the investigation, the board said it had no reason to believe that national security or Nvidia’s secrets were compromised. According to Engadget, President Donald Trump has said the FBI is also looking into the matter.
What happens next
- Testimony in Congress: House Foreign Affairs Chairman Brian Mast said Huang agreed to testify before Thanksgiving, after lawmakers threatened a subpoena. The hearing is expected to be held behind closed doors with the House Intelligence and China committees, according to Engadget.
- Earnings on November 17: Nvidia says it will still report its third-quarter results on Tuesday, November 17, as scheduled. It will be the company’s first earnings report without Huang as CEO.
- The search for a new CEO: no timeline has been given. Names are already being floated, and President Trump said on Truth Social that former Apple CEO Tim Cook should take the job, according to Tom’s Hardware.
Huang’s departure closes a remarkable chapter in tech history. If you want the full story of how he and his co-founders built the company, read our history of Nvidia, from a Denny’s booth to the AI boom. For more on the China chip questions around Nvidia, see our report on shell companies approved to buy H200 chips.
Sources: Nvidia: NVIDIA Announces CEO Transition, Nvidia: Statement From the Independent Members of the Board, Engadget, Tom’s Hardware
