Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang resigns amid affair reports, CFO Colette Kress i…

Board acts after days of pressure

The announcement gave no reason for Huang's departure. It followed a week of escalating reports about two relationships. On 11 November, The Information reported that Huang had an affair with a woman U.S. Officials link to a network accused of moving Nvidia chips to China; China denies she is a spy and the claims against her have not been proven. That evening, The New York Times reported a second affair, with a senior Nvidia employee who reported to him. Neither Huang nor Nvidia has confirmed the second report. The Wall Street Journal then reported the board was meeting to decide whether to remove him.

In a memo to employees reported by several outlets, Huang admitted to the first affair and said he was "deeply sorry." The board said it has "full confidence in Colette and the leadership team."

Kress steps in with deep finance background

Kress joined Nvidia in September 2013 after nearly 25 years in finance roles at Cisco and Microsoft. She also spent eight years at Texas Instruments. Investors know her as the voice walking through the numbers on quarterly earnings calls. She retains the CFO title while serving as interim CEO.

The board also appointed Harvey C. Jones as its first-ever board chair. Jones is a former CEO and executive chairman of Synopsys, the chip design software company. He said the board expects operations, customer commitments and the product roadmap to continue without interruption.

Investor uncertainty ahead of earnings

Nvidia's shares dropped roughly 10% in pre-market trading on Thursday. Analysts cited the loss of the public face of the AI boom and the concentration of engineering strategy in Huang's hands. "Jensen was seen as the kind of the front man of AI, not just at Nvidia, but in general," one market observer told Reuters. "Him stepping down kind of adds a little bit of jitters to the market ahead of the earnings next week."

Kress will lead the 17 November earnings call — her first as interim CEO. The board has given no timeline for naming a permanent chief. Potential internal and external names mentioned in succession discussions include Ian Buck and former company executive Rene Haas.

Products and roadmap unchanged for now

The board said the product roadmap stands. GeForce graphics cards, drivers, GeForce Now streaming and data-center AI chips already announced should not be affected in the near term. The larger question is who will direct engineering strategy long-term. Huang personally steered Nvidia's technical bets; Kress is a finance executive by background.

The board opened an independent investigation on Sunday, 8 November, into whether Huang had been "the target of a foreign intelligence effort." It said at the time it had no reason to believe national security or Nvidia's secrets had been compromised and expressed confidence in him. Four days later he resigned, and the board has published no findings.

All eyes now turn to the 17 November earnings call, where Kress will face analysts' questions about the succession timeline, the investigation's status, and whether the leadership vacuum slows Nvidia's pace in the AI infrastructure race.