Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has resigned, and Colette Kress, the company’s CFO, is Nvidia’s pick for interim CEO.
Nvidia announced on Thursday morning that Huang had resigned as “President, Chief Executive Officer, and a member of the Board, effective immediately,” in its Nvidia CEO transition announcement.
Nvidia shares fell more than 14 percent at Thursday’s opening before recovering to a 7 percent loss that morning. The stock is down more than 14 percent in 2026, erasing well over $1 trillion in market value and leaving shares at a level last seen in early July 2025.
The supplied report says it had been known for a few weeks that Huang had been cheating on his wife with a suspected Chinese spy. Yesterday, the day before Thursday’s report, it says a second affair emerged, involving Nvidia healthcare executive Kimberly Powell. That revelation was apparently the final straw for Nvidia’s board.
The account also describes a board inquiry into whether foreign intelligence had targeted Huang. It says the board had no reason to believe Nvidia secrets or national security had been compromised. An inquiry into possible targeting would not, by itself, establish espionage, a breach of company information or a national-security compromise.
Kress joined Nvidia in 2013 and served as CFO. Some observers are satisfied with Nvidia’s choice of interim CEO. “She’s extremely strong-willed, professional, and whip smart,” an unnamed former Nvidia executive told Wired. “She obviously has a keen sense for how Jensen thinks.”
The source’s investment argument is that Huang’s close association with Nvidia does not automatically determine the health of its business. Nvidia is easily the biggest player in its market, supplying powerful AI chips used across much of the globe, and its fundamentals as a supplier to the AI buildout remain strong. Whether his departure will change that position is unresolved.
Shares had already rebounded significantly in the opening minutes of trading, and many investors view the current moment as a great deal. Some analysts believe Nvidia will survive largely unscathed.
Tech bull Dan Ives said in a note published late Wednesday night, before Nvidia announced Huang’s resignation: “The stock will clearly be under pressure with this fluid news but the reality is its a dark day for Nvidia, but the company will navigate this turmoil and get through to the other side and remain a core foundational piece of the AI Revolution.”
“Time to look forward for Nvidia without Jensen,” Ives followed up in a post on Thursday. “Dark chapter for Jensen and Nvidia.”
The scandal also extends into politics. The source says President Donald Trump personally kept Huang’s infidelity secret and describes the Department of Commerce as resisting an investigation into the company where Huang’s Chinese paramour is an executive. It says the scandal greatly undermines both the Trump administration’s and the Republican Party’s conventionally hardline stance on China.
Democrats, who are taking control of Congress in less than two months, are prepared to press Huang for answers, regardless of his employment status, according to the source. It warns that the fallout could have lasting effects on Nvidia, the AI industry and, through it, the US economy as a whole.
