NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang resigns amid mounting scandals

In a move that has seemed inevitable for the past few days, Jensen Huang has resigned as CEO of NVIDIA, according to a statement from the company.

The decision was announced by NVIDIA’s board of directors who appointed CFO Colette Kress as interim CEO. Kress will serve in both roles until NVIDIA appoints a permanent replacement CEO. The board said it is considering both internal and external candidates.

Huang co-founded NVIDIA and has been its only CEO. He led the company through its transformation from a comfortably successful graphics chip maker into a $4 trillion global powerhouse that is the central player of the AI boom. He has also been the public face of it.

Huang’s stunning downfall began two weeks ago when The New York Times published a story that he had an affair with Alice Huang, a businesswoman from China who worked for a Singapore-based NVIDIA customer called Megaspeed. Reportedly, she had been recruited by China’s main spy agency to gather information on Huang as Megaspeed funneled AI chips to China.

On November 8, Huang issued a statement admitting to the affair and apologizing to his family, as well as NVIDIA employees and shareholders. That same day, the NVIDIA board put out its own statement that it was assigning outside counsel to look into the espionage but had “no reason to believe that either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised.”

Speculation about the future of NVIDIA and Huang’s role in it has run rampant, and was accelerated last night when The New York Times published a story that Huang had also had an affair with an NVIDIA executive who was a direct report. NVIDIA’s 10-member board met overnight following the news and put out its statement about Huang’s resignation and Kress’ appointment this morning.

“Colette has helped lead NVIDIA through a period of extraordinary growth and has a deep understanding of our business, customers, operations and financial position,” Harvey Jones, chair of NVIDIA’s board of directors, said in NVIDIA’s statement today. “The [b]oard 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.”

Following the news this morning, President Donald Trump, who has stood by Huang through the scandal, posted on Truth Social that former Apple CEO Tim Cook should be his replacement. Trump wrote: “NOW THAT Nvidia CEO JENSEN HUANG, who has done a fantastic job, has resigned, there is only one man to take his place – TIM COOK of Apple. A Legend replaces a Legend!”

Huang’s departure has affected NVIDIA’s stock price, but beyond that, it threatens to shake up the AI industry as a whole.