Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang resigns; CFO Colette Kress named interim chief

Jensen Huang is no longer Nvidia’s chief executive. A day after we reported that the board was preparing to remove him, Nvidia said in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission that its board had accepted Huang’s resignation as president, CEO and director, effective immediately. Chief financial officer Colette Kress is interim CEO while the board looks for a permanent replacement.

What Nvidia said

The 8-K filing, dated 11 November, is short. It confirms the resignation and Kress’s appointment, and says she will keep her CFO job until a new chief executive is found. The board will look at internal and external candidates. Former Synopsys CEO Harvey Jones becomes the company’s first-ever board chair, a role Nvidia never had while its founder ran it.

The filing gives no reason for Huang’s exit.

Why he left, according to reports

The reason comes from media reporting, not from Nvidia. The Financial Times reported that Huang had a romantic relationship with Alice Huang, an executive at the cloud company Megaspeed, who US investigators suspect of links to Chinese intelligence; she has not been charged. The New York Times reported a second relationship, with an Nvidia executive who reports to him. The Wall Street Journal had reported on Wednesday that directors were preparing to oust him. Huang has not commented publicly on the reports.

How the market reacted

Nvidia shares fell sharply on Thursday. CNBC reported a drop of nearly 10% in early trading before the stock pared some losses; other outlets put the opening fall at as much as 13%. For the world’s most valuable chipmaker, every percentage point is tens of billions of dollars.

President Trump wrote on social media that former Apple chief Tim Cook should take over. That is his opinion; the choice belongs to Nvidia’s board. The Financial Times named Ian Buck, who runs Nvidia’s data-centre business, and Arm chief executive Rene Haas as possible candidates.

Why it matters beyond Silicon Valley

Nvidia’s chips run almost every big AI model, so its leadership matters to anyone building on AI. Bloomberg also flagged Nvidia’s pledge of $10 billion for Anthropic’s coming share sale, which investors are now watching closely. For Pakistan, the immediate effect is on markets: Nvidia’s swings move the whole tech sector, and with it the mood on Wall Street that feeds into oil, the dollar and emerging-market stocks.

The next test is close. Kress faces analysts on 17 November, when Nvidia reports its quarterly results, and will have to show the business does not depend on one man.