Nvidia co-founder and CEO Jensen Huang has resigned from his position, the company’s board of directors announced on Thursday. The resignation concludes a weeklong period of turmoil that revealed Huang engaged in several affairs, including one with an alleged Chinese spy. These revelations caused Nvidia’s stock price to drop to eight-month lows due to national security concerns.
Colette Kress, the company’s chief financial officer, has been appointed as interim CEO. She will maintain her role as CFO while the board conducts a search for a permanent successor from both internal and external pools. Additionally, the board named tech executive Harvey C. Jones as the first chair of the board. Jones, who has been an Nvidia board member since 1993 and formerly served as CEO of Synopsys, stated that Kress has a deep understanding of the company's operations and financial position. He expressed the board's full confidence in Kress and the leadership team, stating they expect operations and product roadmaps to continue without interruption.
Nvidia’s stock fell as much as 13% in premarket trading following the announcement.
The scandal began as the board of directors weighed whether to oust Huang, who has led the company since its founding in 1993. The board initially said it would launch an independent investigation into Huang’s relationship with Alice Huang, a Chinese tech executive. The New York Times reported that Alice Huang was recruited by China’s Ministry of State Security to spy on the executive to learn about Nvidia’s AI chips. To lead this investigation, Nvidia hired the firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.
While the board initially stated Huang would continue to lead the company during the investigation, he also faced an FBI investigation regarding the affair with the alleged spy. On Wednesday, the New York Times reported that Huang had a separate affair with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of health care, who joined the company in 2008. Nvidia’s code of conduct prohibits employees from situations that create a conflict between personal gain and company obligations and notes that personal relationships may pose potential conflicts.
In a statement, the board described Huang’s contributions as profound and thanked him for his immeasurable contributions to the company and the industry. Kress stated she is committed to building on the foundation Huang created over the last 33 years, noting that the focus remains on serving customers, partners, developers, and shareholders.
Huang co-founded Nvidia as a graphics chip provider for video games before growing it into one of the world’s most valuable companies through AI chips. The company has deep ties to the entertainment industry, including investments in Higgsfield and Runway, and a partnership with ElevenLabs to develop voice agents for governments. Last year, Nvidia partnered with Disney and Google DeepMind to develop Newton, an open-source physics engine for robotics. Nvidia also entered a deal with Universal Music Group in January to develop responsible AI for music discovery and creation.
Huang was one of President Donald Trump’s closest tech allies. On Monday, Trump defended Huang in a news conference, stating he believed Huang’s assertions that he was unaware of Alice Huang’s affiliations, though the president confirmed the FBI is investigating the relationship. Separately, the Commerce Department had investigated Nvidia regarding the potential smuggling of chips into China before the matter was moved to the Justice Department. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
