Jensen Huang, the co-founder who built Nvidia into the world's most valuable chipmaker, resigned as president, chief executive officer and board member on Thursday, effective immediately, ending a 33-year run at the top of the company that supplies the hardware underpinning the global AI boom.

The board announced the resignation in a press release on Nvidia's newsroom on Thursday afternoon. Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress has been appointed interim CEO and will continue serving as CFO until a permanent successor is named. The board said it has initiated a search for a permanent chief executive and will consider both internal and external candidates. It also appointed Harvey C. Jones, an entrepreneur and venture investor who previously served as CEO and executive chairman of Synopsys, as Nvidia's first-ever chair of the board. For continuous updates on this developing story, follow our breaking AI news coverage.

Why Huang stepped down

The resignation caps a turbulent stretch that began with revelations about Huang's personal conduct. According to Associated Press reporting on Thursday, Huang faced growing calls to resign after his extramarital affair with a former Megaspeed executive whom U.S. officials suspected of acting as a Chinese government agent raised national security concerns. The board had gathered to discuss Huang's future after those revelations, the AP reported.

The New York Times escalated the crisis further on Wednesday, reporting that Huang had also had an affair with an Nvidia executive who reported directly to him. The AP said it could not independently confirm that report. The Times identified the woman involved in the Megaspeed affair as Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le, a top executive at the company — who, the paper noted, is not related to Jensen Huang.

The scandal's national security dimension stems from Megaspeed's position in the semiconductor supply chain and earlier reporting, including by the Financial Times, alleging the relationship. On Thursday, Megaspeed International, a Singapore-headquartered company, issued its first statement since the scandal broke, saying it takes its obligation to comply with U.S. export control laws "extremely seriously" and is committed to working constructively and transparently with the U.S. government. The statement was signed by the company's chairman and CEO, Tan Yong Pong, who also goes by James Tan.

Nvidia has previously said it had "no reason to believe" that either national security or Nvidia secrets were compromised, but that its inquiry would examine all available information. Huang had published an apology letter to employees on Nvidia's newsroom on November 8, acknowledging the affair and saying he supported the board's independent investigation.

While the company's official statement says Huang resigned, several major outlets characterized the exit as forced. Bloomberg's headline reported that Huang was "ousted by Nvidia board" as CEO, and The Wall Street Journal reported he had been ousted as chief executive. Reuters described the departure as a blow to the AI boom. The distinction between a resignation and an ouster matters for governance reasons, but the practical outcome is the same: Nvidia's leadership is changing immediately.

Who is Colette Kress, the interim CEO?

Kress has served as Nvidia's executive vice president and chief financial officer since joining the company in September 2013, and before that spent nearly 25 years in finance roles at technology companies including Cisco and Microsoft. During her tenure, Nvidia's finance organization steered the company through one of the fastest revenue expansions in corporate history, driven by data center demand for its GPUs.

"Colette has helped lead NVIDIA through a period of extraordinary growth and has a deep understanding of our business, customers, operations and financial position," said Harvey Jones, the new chair of the board, in the company's statement. "She is supported by an experienced leadership team that has been instrumental in executing NVIDIA's strategy and advancing its technology roadmap. 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."

Kress herself struck a similar tone. "NVIDIA's strength has always come from its people, and together with our leadership team, I am committed to building on the extraordinary foundation Jensen created over the last 33 years," she said in the statement.

Markets react

Investors moved quickly. Nvidia shares plunged 10% in premarket trading Thursday, according to the AP, as traders weighed the loss of a leader who has been the public face of the AI chip revolution — and the uncertainty about whether the company's execution can continue without him.

The stakes are enormous. Nvidia's chips train and serve nearly every frontier AI model, and its data center business has turned the company into one of the most valuable in the world. The market reaction rippled across global markets, with world shares mixed as Nvidia's troubles weighed on AI stocks, according to Reuters reporting.

Business partners moved to project calm. Siemens' chief executive said Thursday that cooperation with Nvidia would not be affected by the leadership uncertainty, Reuters reported, while Korea's chip supply deals with the company came under scrutiny from local media as analysts assessed whether customer and supplier relationships would hold.

What comes next

Nvidia says the search for a permanent CEO is underway, with internal and external candidates in consideration. Kress is widely credited with the financial architecture behind the company's rise, but the board's decision to launch an external search suggests it is not treating her appointment as a formality.

For the AI industry at large, the abrupt exit of its most prominent hardware champion raises questions that go beyond one company's leadership. Nvidia's product roadmap, its supply commitments to hyperscalers and model developers, and the U.S. policy debates around AI chip exports all intersected with Huang personally. His departure does not change the demand picture for AI compute, but it removes a leader whose relationships and judgment shaped the industry's most consequential deals.

The board's inquiry into the national security concerns, and any congressional follow-up, will likely continue in parallel with the CEO search. For now, the company's statement emphasized continuity: operations, customer commitments and the product roadmap are expected to continue without interruption.

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