Top image: Jensen Huang with students at Stanford University in April 2026. Photo: Anderseidesvik / CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Jensen Huang, who co-founded Nvidia and built the Santa Clara chipmaker into the most important supplier of the artificial intelligence boom, resigned Thursday as president, chief executive and a director, effective immediately, the company announced.
Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress, 59, will serve as interim CEO while keeping her finance role, and the board will consider internal and external candidates for a permanent successor. Harvey C. Jones, a director since 1993 and a former chief executive of Synopsys, becomes the board’s first-ever chair. The board accepted Huang’s resignation on Nov. 11, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“The Board has full confidence in Colette and the leadership team, and we expect the company’s operations, customer commitments and product roadmap to continue without interruption,” Jones said in the announcement. The board said, “Jensen’s contributions to NVIDIA are profound,” and thanked him “for his immeasurable contributions to the company and the industry.”
The resignation follows a week of turmoil after reports of Huang’s affair with Alice Huang, a former executive at Singapore-based data center company Megaspeed who is suspected of being a Chinese spy, CBS News reported. Megaspeed is under investigation in the U.S. and Singapore over allegations it smuggled export-restricted chips into China, which it denies. Huang publicly apologized Tuesday for being unfaithful to his wife, CNBC reported, citing The New York Times.
Trump’s defense
President Donald Trump, a friend of Huang’s, has said he does not believe Huang knew the Megaspeed executive was a spy, CBS reported. On Thursday he praised Huang as having “done a fantastic job” and wrote on Truth Social that “there is only one man to take his place – TIM COOK of Apple. A Legend replaces a Legend!” according to CNBC.
“What a horrible thing that is! That’s so sad to see that happen,” Trump told conservative host Hugh Hewitt of Huang’s exit, CNBC reported. Trump called Huang on Tuesday and urged him to fight to keep his job, The New York Times reported.
Kress takes over
Kress joined Nvidia in September 2013 after nearly 25 years in finance roles at companies including Cisco and Microsoft, according to the company. “I am committed to building on the extraordinary foundation Jensen created over the last 33 years,” she said. “Our focus remains on serving our customers, partners, developers and shareholders.”
She was gathering the executive team at headquarters to discuss leadership and continuity plans, a person familiar with the matter told CNBC. Nvidia still plans to report third-quarter results on Tuesday, Nov. 17, at about 1:20 p.m. Pacific time, with its earnings call at 2 p.m.
Huang has hired the law firm Paul Weiss, CNBC confirmed. Outside the company’s Santa Clara headquarters, supporters left bouquets of flowers and at least one candle at the Nvidia sign, according to CNBC.
Market reaction
Nvidia shares plunged more than 13% at Thursday’s open, hitting a new 52-week low, before paring losses to close down 4.3%, just above a $4 trillion market value, CNBC reported. The stock had closed at $173.73 on Wednesday, down from a closing high of $239.24 on Oct. 6. Rivals gained: AMD rose about 17% since Monday, according to CNBC, and Broadcom also rose, Reuters reported. Huang held about 3.6% of the company, Reuters reported.
“I think that him being forced out is a major loss for Nvidia and also a major loss for the United States,” Cantor Fitzgerald analyst CJ Muse told CNBC. “We are giving up the lead in AI in my view to China.”
Congress wants answers
Huang’s departure has not ended the congressional pressure. The Republican chairs of the House China Select, Foreign Affairs and Intelligence committees wrote to him Thursday asking him to sit for a closed-door interview on Dec. 1, and said the Foreign Affairs Committee will issue a subpoena if he does not accept by Friday evening, CBS reported. “We need to know the full extent to which our national security has been put at risk,” the chairs said. The committees’ earlier request had given him until Wednesday to respond.
Foreign Affairs Chairman Brian Mast, R-Fla., told reporters Thursday that Huang “has agreed to come” and that they were negotiating a date, according to CNBC. Senate Banking Chairman Tim Scott, R-S.C., asked Huang to testify voluntarily in the first week of December and asked Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to appear at a public hearing, CBS reported. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said “it would make sense” for Huang to testify.
Democrats, who take control of both chambers in January, are focusing on the administration as well. “The Trump administration must also answer for what it did once it learned about Mr. Huang’s relationship with a suspected Chinese intelligence asset,” said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries called the resignation “the right thing to do” and asked for a classified briefing. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said the resignation “does not absolve him, other executives, or the company as a whole.” The top Democrats on Senate Finance and House Ways and Means, Sen. Ron Wyden and Rep. Richard Neal, opened an inquiry into the administration’s approval of Nvidia chip exports.
Khanna
Rep. Ro Khanna of Fremont, the top Democrat on the House China Select Committee, has called for an investigation into what the administration knew, as the Chronicle reported. The New York Post reported Thursday that a trust benefiting Khanna’s wife, Ritu Ahuja, sold between $1,001 and $15,000 of Nvidia stock on both Sept. 4 and Oct. 7, according to congressional disclosures, Newsmax reported. The family also bought Nvidia shares between June and September.
A Khanna spokesperson said, “Neither Rep. Khanna nor anyone on his staff received any briefing on Megaspeed, Jensen, or any counterintelligence risks tied to Nvidia,” and that Khanna “does not trade stocks and provided zero direction or input into any trades.” Khanna has said the holdings are in a trust set up by his in-laws before his marriage and are independently managed. Households of Reps. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, Dan Meuser, R-Pa., and Gil Cisneros, D-Calif., also reported Nvidia sales before the decline. The disclosures show the timing of the trades but do not show that any were based on inside information, Newsmax noted.
What’s next
- Friday evening: House deadline for Huang to accept a Dec. 1 interview before a subpoena.
- Tuesday, Nov. 17: Nvidia’s third-quarter earnings, the first under Kress.
- Early December: Possible Senate Banking testimony.
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