Nvidia Accepts Jensen Huang's Resignation After Affairs With Alleged Spy and Subordinate; CFO Colette Kress Named Interim CEO

Nvidia's board of directors accepted the resignation of co‑founder and CEO Jensen Huang on Wednesday, announcing it Thursday, ending a 33‑year reign that made the company the central supplier of chips for the AI boom. The move follows Huang's admission of an extramarital affair with a woman U.S. intelligence officials have deemed to be a Chinese operative, and a subsequent New York Times report of a second affair with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia's vice president of health care and a direct report. Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress, 59, was named interim CEO effective immediately; she will retain the CFO role while the board searches for a permanent successor. Longtime director Harvey C. Jones, former CEO of Synopsys, was appointed the board's first-ever chair [2][6].

A week of escalating revelations

TechCrunch reported, citing the New York Times, that Huang had developed a close relationship with Alice Huang (no relation), a Singapore‑based executive at Megaspeed, a firm that purchased billions of dollars of Nvidia chips and has been under U.S. and Singaporean investigation for possible diversion of controlled semiconductors to China [3]. On November 8, Huang sent a company‑wide letter acknowledging he had been unfaithful to his wife and linking the admission to "national security concerns raised in news reports." The board announced an independent investigation but said it had "no reason to believe that either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised" [1]. Days later, on November 11, the Wall Street Journal reported the board was preparing to remove Huang [1][2], and the New York Times reported a separate affair with Powell, who has been at Nvidia since 2008 and leads its health‑care and research business [1][2]. Nvidia's code of conduct warns that personal relationships may create conflicts between personal gain and obligations to the company, and advises that such relationships may pose a potential conflict [2].

Leadership vacuum at a critical juncture

Huang ran Nvidia with a flat structure, roughly 60 direct reports, and no chief operating officer or public succession plan. Analysts have long warned that his authority — deciding what chips get built, securing industry commitment, and maintaining customer confidence — would be difficult to replicate [1]. Gil Luria, an analyst with D.A. Davidson, told Fortune that the factors behind Huang's potential removal hasten a transition the company is not prepared for [1]. The board's statement emphasized continuity: "We expect the company's operations, customer commitments and product roadmap to continue without interruption" [6]. Kress, who joined Nvidia in 2013 after finance roles at Cisco and Microsoft, said she is "committed to building on the extraordinary foundation Jensen created" [2][6].

Market reaction and open investigations

Nvidia shares fell more than 7% in after‑hours trading Wednesday and dropped as much as 13% in premarket trading Thursday [1][2]. The company is scheduled to report quarterly earnings next Tuesday, offering Kress a first public test. Meanwhile, the FBI is investigating the relationship with Alice Huang [2], and the Justice Department has taken over a probe into Megaspeed's chip purchases [3]. Three Republican committee chairs have requested a closed‑door briefing from Huang and threatened a subpoena [3]. President Trump, who has called Huang an "amazing guy" and "honorable man" [1], said Monday he believed Huang was unaware of Alice Huang's affiliations [2].

What remains unknown

• Whether any Nvidia technology or strategic information was passed to Chinese intelligence. The board's initial statement said it saw no evidence of compromise, but its investigation continues [1].
• The scope of the second affair. Nvidia, Huang, and Powell have not confirmed the Times report; Huang reportedly told a Times reporter, "I don't think you should be talking to me directly," before hanging up [3].
• The timeline and criteria for a permanent CEO. The board said it will consider internal and external candidates but gave no deadline [2][6].
• Potential legal exposure: Analysts have noted the SEC charged former McDonald's CEO Steve Easterbrook with misleading investors about the circumstances of his ouster over workplace relationships; whether Huang faces similar scrutiny remains unclear [1].

Nvidia's immediate challenge is to demonstrate that its product roadmap — including its technology roadmap and software ecosystem — can advance without the founder who personified it. The board's ability to manage that transition, while multiple federal investigations proceed, will be the first test of the post‑Huang era.