Jensen Huang has resigned as President, Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of NVIDIA, effective immediately.
The company announced the leadership transition on 12 November 2026. Colette Kress, currently Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, has been appointed Interim CEO. She will continue to serve as CFO while the board conducts a search for a permanent successor.
The Board of Directors has also appointed Harvey C. Jones as the company’s first-ever Chair of the Board. The board said it will consider both internal and external candidates for the permanent CEO role.
Huang co-founded NVIDIA in 1993 and led the company for 33 years, transforming it into a dominant force in accelerated computing and artificial intelligence.
Background
Jensen Huang’s resignation as NVIDIA chief executive on 12 November 2026 followed a rapid series of revelations that combined personal misconduct with national security concerns.
In early November, reports emerged that Huang had conducted an extramarital affair with a Chinese businesswoman named Alice Huang. U.S. intelligence officials suspected her of acting as a Chinese spy. She was linked to Megaspeed, a Singapore-based company that was a NVIDIA customer and under investigation for possible violations of U.S. export controls on advanced chips.
On 8 November, Huang issued a public apology to NVIDIA staff, acknowledging that he had been “unfaithful to my wife.” The company’s board responded by launching an independent investigation, while stating at the time that it had no reason to believe company secrets or national security had been compromised.
Further pressure mounted on 11 and 12 November when The New York Times reported that Huang had also had a separate extramarital relationship with Kimberly Powell, NVIDIA’s Vice President of Healthcare, who reported directly to him. The disclosure raised serious internal governance and code-of-conduct issues.
As scrutiny intensified, NVIDIA’s board met to discuss Huang’s future. Shares in the company fell sharply, dropping more than 10 percent in pre-market trading after the resignation was announced. Reports indicated the board was preparing to remove him.
On 12 November 2026, Huang resigned as President, Chief Executive Officer and board member, effective immediately.
