Jensen Huang Resigns as Nvidia CEO After 33 Years; CFO Colette Kress Named Interim Chief
Nvidia co-founder Jensen Huang has quit as CEO and left the board with immediate effect. CFO Colette Kress takes over as Interim CEO and Harvey Jones becomes the first board Chair.
Jensen Huang, who co-founded Nvidia in 1993 and led it for 33 years, has stepped down as the chip giant’s president and chief executive, and has also left its board. The company announced the move on Thursday, 12 November (US time), saying the resignation took effect immediately.
Nvidia did not give a reason in its statement. Al Jazeera reported that the exit followed days of reports about Huang’s personal conduct, which he publicly acknowledged on Sunday, and concerns that Chinese intelligence may have tried to target him. The board had launched an independent inquiry into those concerns earlier in the week and has said it has no reason to believe national security was compromised.
Kress steps in, Jones becomes first board Chair
Colette Kress, Nvidia’s Chief Financial Officer since 2013, will run the company as Interim CEO and will keep her CFO duties until a permanent leader is found. Before Nvidia, she spent close to 25 years in finance roles at Cisco and Microsoft. The board said it would look at both internal and external candidates for the top job.
Harvey C. Jones, a former CEO and Executive Chairman of Synopsys who has been on Nvidia’s board since 1993, has been named the company’s first-ever Chair of the Board. Jones said the board expects day-to-day operations, customer commitments and the product roadmap to carry on without disruption, while Kress said her focus stayed on customers, partners, developers and shareholders. The board also thanked Huang for what it called his “immeasurable contributions”.
Shares swing, results next week
According to Al Jazeera, Nvidia’s stock fell more than 14% at one point on Thursday before winning back some of the loss, and major US indices closed lower. The company controls an estimated 90% of the market for advanced AI chips, and its annual revenue grew from $4.13 billion in fiscal 2014 to $215.9 billion in fiscal 2026 during Kress’s time as CFO.
The leadership change comes just days before Nvidia reports its third-quarter results for fiscal 2027 on Tuesday, 17 November. The earnings call is set for 2 pm Pacific time, which is 3:30 am IST on Wednesday, 18 November.
Photo: NVIDIA Headquarters by Coolcaesar, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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