Jensen Huang has resigned as president, chief executive and a board member of Nvidia, effective immediately, ending a 33-year run at the company he co-founded and built into the world’s most important supplier of artificial intelligence chips.

Nvidia’s board announced the departure on Thursday. Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress will serve as interim chief executive while retaining her CFO duties, and the board has begun a search for a permanent successor, considering internal and external candidates. Former Synopsys chief Harvey C. Jones was appointed as Nvidia’s first-ever board chair and will oversee the search.

The company’s statement thanked Huang for his “immeasurable contributions” but gave no reason for the resignation and included no comment from Huang, who is 63 and co-founded Nvidia in 1993 with Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem. He also gives up his board seat. Huang is the company’s fourth-largest investor, with a stake of about 3.61%.

The exit caps a tumultuous week. On Sunday, Huang admitted to an extramarital affair, without naming the other party, and apologized to his family and colleagues. The New York Times later reported a second affair, with Kimberly Powell, a senior Nvidia executive who runs the company’s healthcare business. The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday night that the board was preparing to oust Huang, and the board met Wednesday to weigh his future. Nvidia had also said it was investigating whether Huang was the target of a foreign intelligence effort, after reports that the woman in the first affair, Alice Huang, a former executive at Singapore data-center firm Megaspeed, is suspected by U.S. officials of working for Chinese intelligence.

Investors reacted fast. Nvidia shares fell more than 10% in premarket trading on Thursday and slid 4.2% to $166.28 in Thursday trading, after dropping more than 8% in after-hours trading on Wednesday. At one point the stock was on pace to shed roughly $500 billion in market value.

The leadership change lands five days before Nvidia’s next big test: the company said it will report third-quarter fiscal 2027 results on Tuesday, November 17, as previously scheduled, followed by an earnings call. President Donald Trump weighed in on Truth Social, suggesting former Apple chief Tim Cook should take over; there is no indication Nvidia has selected Cook.

The Bit Take: The man who kicked off the AI boom just left the building, and the timing could hardly be worse for Nvidia. Huang wasn’t just a CEO; he was the company’s strategy, its sales pitch and its shield in Washington, all in one leather jacket. Kress is a steady hand, but she inherits a board search, an earnings report in five days and a Washington that is suddenly very interested in who runs the world’s most important chip company. The question now isn’t whether Nvidia can build the best AI chips. It’s whether it can do it without the one person who made everyone believe it could.

Sources:
– CNN — CFO Colette Kress to serve as interim leader after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang resignation: https://www.cnn.com/2026/11/12/tech/jensen-huang-nvidia-resigns?cid=external-feeds_iluminar_meta
– Barron’s — Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Resigns—and the Stock Is Falling: https://www.barrons.com/articles/nvidia-stock-price-huang-affair-ceo-ouster-26c99dad
– Business Standard — Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang resigns; CFO Kress to take over as interim chief: https://www.business-standard.com/world-news/nvidia-s-jensen-huang-resigns-as-president-ceo-with-immediate-effect-126111201571_1.html
– Vanguard — Jensen Huang resigns as Nvidia CEO: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2026/11/jensen-huang-resigns-as-nvidia-ceo/
– NorthJersey.com — Why did Huang resign? Trump says Cook should lead Nvidia: https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/2026/11/12/why-did-hensen-huang-resign-from-nvidia-trump-backs-tim-cook-truth-social-post/92742469007/