Nvidia Corp. co-founder and longtime Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang has stepped down from his role, effective immediately, following mounting fallout from reports of two extramarital relationships, including one with a businesswoman suspected by U.S. intelligence officials of being a Chinese spy.
In a statement issued after a board meeting on Wednesday evening, Nvidia’s Board of Directors announced that Huang has resigned as President, Chief Executive Officer, and a member of the Board. Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress has been appointed Interim CEO while continuing in her role as CFO. The board also appointed Harvey C. Jones as its first-ever Chair and initiated a formal search—considering both internal and external candidates—to identify a permanent successor.
Shares of Nvidia tumbled approximately 10% in premarket trading on Thursday as investors reacted to the abrupt departure of the executive who co-founded the company in 1993 and steered it to become the centerpiece of the global artificial intelligence boom.
The leadership shake-up follows days of intensifying scrutiny after Huang apologized earlier in the week for being unfaithful to his wife, acknowledging an affair with Alice Huang, an executive tied to Singapore-based data center operator and Nvidia customer Megaspeed. U.S. intelligence agencies reportedly suspect Alice Huang of operating as a Chinese intelligence asset, raising national security concerns over potential access to advanced chip technology or policy influence. Reports subsequently surfaced alleging a second relationship between Jensen Huang and Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s Vice President of Healthcare.
Nvidia’s board previously established a committee of independent directors—retaining former acting U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim and the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz—to conduct an independent investigation. Both Huang and the company have maintained that there is no evidence proprietary technology, trade secrets, or confidential government information were compromised.
Kress, who has served as Nvidia’s CFO since 2013 and is widely known to Wall Street investors, takes the helm ahead of the chipmaker’s fiscal third-quarter earnings report scheduled for November 17. Meanwhile, three U.S. House Republican committee chairs have requested that Huang appear before lawmakers for a closed-door session on November 18 regarding national security questions tied to the investigation.
