Four days ago, Nvidia’s board said it had “confidence in Jensen”. This morning, the man who co-founded the company in 1993 and ran it for 33 years is gone. Nvidia announced on Thursday, 12 November 2026, that Jensen Huang has resigned as president, chief executive officer and board member, effective immediately, after a week of reports about two extramarital affairs, one of them with a woman US officials believe is a Chinese intelligence asset. Chief financial officer Colette Kress is now interim CEO, and the world’s most important AI chipmaker has no permanent leader five days before its quarterly earnings.
Quick answer: Jensen Huang resigned as Nvidia’s CEO, president and director on 12 November 2026, in a release issued at 8:48 a.m. ET. CFO Colette Kress is interim CEO and keeps her CFO job until a permanent successor is found. Longtime director Harvey C. Jones becomes Nvidia’s first-ever board chair. The board will look at internal and external candidates, and earnings still arrive on Tuesday, 17 November. Nvidia shares were down roughly 9% to 11% in premarket trading.
What Nvidia announced
The announcement, titled “NVIDIA Announces CEO Transition”, came through GlobeNewswire from Santa Clara shortly before US markets opened. It was short and businesslike. The key points:
- Huang is out completely. He resigned as president, CEO and as a member of the board. Being fired as CEO would not have removed him from the board, so leaving both roles is a clean break.
- Colette Kress is interim CEO. She stays on as CFO while she runs the company. No acting CFO was named.
- A first-ever board chair. Harvey C. Jones, former CEO and executive chairman of chip-design software company Synopsys, becomes chair. Nvidia’s board previously had no chair.
- The search starts now. The board says it will consider internal and external candidates for the permanent role. No timetable was given.
- Business as usual, they say. Jones said the board has full confidence in Kress and the leadership team, and that operations, customer commitments and the product roadmap should continue without interruption. The board also thanked Huang for his contributions to Nvidia and the industry.
The release did not mention the board’s independent investigation, any severance, or any future advisory role for Huang.
Who is Colette Kress, Nvidia’s interim CEO?
Kress has been Nvidia’s executive vice president and CFO since September 2013, which means she has overseen the company’s finances through its entire rise from a gaming-chip maker to the backbone of the AI boom. Before Nvidia she spent close to 25 years in finance roles at technology companies including Cisco and Microsoft.
Investors know her well. She speaks on every earnings call and usually publishes Nvidia’s written CFO commentary before results. In her statement, Kress said she is committed to building on the foundation Huang created over 33 years and that Nvidia’s focus stays on customers, partners, developers and shareholders.
Who is Harvey C. Jones?
Jones has been a Nvidia director since 1993, the year the company was founded, so he has sat on the board for its whole history. He ran Synopsys as CEO and later executive chairman, and is managing partner of the investment firm Square Wave Ventures, according to PPC Land. His appointment as chair gives the board a single leader as it picks a new CEO.
Key facts at a glance
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Announcement | 12 Nov 2026, 8:48 a.m. ET (7:18 p.m. IST) |
| Who resigned | Jensen Huang, co-founder, president and CEO since 1993 |
| Roles given up | President, CEO and board member, effective immediately |
| Interim CEO | Colette Kress, EVP and CFO (at Nvidia since Sept 2013) |
| New board chair | Harvey C. Jones, ex-Synopsys CEO, director since 1993 |
| Permanent CEO | Search under way, internal and external candidates |
| Next earnings | Tue 17 Nov 2026, call at 2 p.m. PT (5 p.m. ET) |
| Stock reaction | Down roughly 9% to 11% premarket on 12 Nov |
How we got here: the timeline
The fall happened remarkably fast. Two weeks ago Huang was the most powerful CEO in tech. Here is how it unravelled:
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| 29 Oct | The New York Times reports that US officials concluded Alice Huang, an executive at Singapore-based Nvidia customer Megaspeed, was a Chinese intelligence asset close to Jensen Huang. China denies it. |
| 8 Nov (Sun) | Huang admits in a staff email that he was unfaithful to his wife. The board opens an independent investigation and says it has confidence in him. |
| 9 Nov | Shares fall; a securities class action is filed accusing Nvidia of not disclosing information about the relationship. |
| 10 Nov | Independent directors hire former federal prosecutor Joon H. Kim and law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. |
| 11 Nov (Wed) | The New York Times reports a second alleged affair, with a senior Nvidia executive who reported to Huang. The Wall Street Journal reports the board is preparing to oust him; the board meets that evening. |
| 12 Nov (Thu) | Huang resigns. Kress named interim CEO, Jones named chair. |
We covered the start of this story in Nvidia stock falls as board investigates Jensen Huang over alleged Chinese spy affair. The second report changed the picture. Analysts told CNBC that an alleged relationship with a direct report made it much harder for the board to keep him, because company policies on workplace relationships come into play, not just reputation. Nvidia had declined to comment on that second allegation, and it has not been confirmed by the company.
What it means for Nvidia stock
Nvidia shares had already been battered. They closed at $173.73 on Wednesday before dropping 7% to 8% in after-hours trading on the second-affair report. On Thursday morning, before the resignation, they were down about 9% premarket, and roughly 11% afterwards, according to investingLive figures cited by PPC Land. StockTitan’s delayed quote showed about $158. The stock was already down more than 20% over the past month, and Yahoo Finance reported it lost about $430 billion of market value on Monday and Tuesday alone.
Wall Street is split on how much the founder matters. Bernstein cut its price target in half, from $400 to $200, according to CNBC, and its analyst Stacy Rasgon warned that losing Huang could make the stock hard to own for some investors. Others argue that Nvidia’s lead in AI chips, its software ecosystem and its order backlog do not depend on one person, and that a clear answer is better than weeks of uncertainty. For background on the wider sell-off, see AI stocks lost $5 trillion in October.
Disclaimer: This article is for information only and is not financial advice. Prices can move sharply on news like this, so speak to a qualified financial adviser before making investment decisions.
Why Jensen Huang’s resignation is such big news
- Nvidia powers the AI economy. Its chips train and run most of the world’s large AI models, and it became one of the most valuable companies on Earth under Huang.
- Founder-led to leaderless. Huang ran Nvidia for its entire 33-year history and was famous for having dozens of direct reports and no obvious number two. Axios noted he had no clear successor.
- National security is involved. The Alice Huang allegations touch the US-China fight over advanced chips. Politico reported the scandal raised the odds of tougher chip export rules in Congress, and House China committee chair John Moolenaar has asked Huang to brief Congress.
What happens next
- 17 November earnings: Nvidia reports third-quarter fiscal 2027 results on Tuesday, with the call at 2 p.m. PT. It will be Kress’s first test as interim CEO, and analysts will want reassurance on demand, supply and leadership.
- The CEO search: The board has not named candidates or a deadline. Expect speculation about senior Nvidia executives as well as outside names.
- The investigation: The independent review into whether Huang was targeted by a foreign intelligence effort was not mentioned in Thursday’s release, so its status is unclear.
- Legal and political pressure: A securities class action is pending, and Congress still wants answers about Nvidia’s ties to Megaspeed.
Frequently asked questions
Did Jensen Huang resign or was he fired?
Nvidia says he resigned, effective immediately, on 12 November 2026. Reports the night before said the board was preparing to remove him, and the board met on Wednesday evening to discuss his future.
Who is the new CEO of Nvidia?
CFO Colette Kress is interim CEO while the board searches for a permanent replacement. She also remains CFO.
Is Jensen Huang still on Nvidia’s board?
No. He resigned as a director as well as president and CEO. Harvey C. Jones is now the board’s first chair.
Why did Jensen Huang resign?
The release did not give a reason. It followed his admission of an affair with Alice Huang, whom US officials reportedly believe is a Chinese intelligence asset, and a New York Times report of a second affair with a senior Nvidia executive.
When does Nvidia report earnings?
Tuesday, 17 November 2026. Results are due around 1:20 p.m. PT, with the conference call at 2 p.m. PT (5 p.m. ET).
Sources: Nvidia press release via GlobeNewswire and StockTitan, Tom’s Hardware, CBS News, The National, CNBC, The Hill, Euronews, Axios, Fortune, Yahoo Finance, PPC Land, Politico.
