Jensen Huang has resigned as president and chief executive of Nvidia, ending 33 years at the helm of the chipmaker he co-founded and leaving the board as well, effective immediately.
The move comes days after Nvidia’s board opened an independent investigation into reports that Huang had been the target of a foreign intelligence effort and just after it reportedly met to decide his future.
According to Nvidia’s announcement, the board accepted the resignation on Wednesday, November 11, a day before it was made public.
The board, which opened its inquiry on 8 November by saying it had confidence in Huang and his leadership team, has now accepted his resignation, a reversal of the full confidence it showed only days earlier.
Colette Kress, the company’s executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, steps in as interim chief executive while keeping her finance role. The board will search for a permanent successor, weighing both internal and external candidates, and the interim label signals it has not yet decided whether Kress will get the job outright.
Kress joined Nvidia in September 2013 and has led its finance team as the company grew from a graphics-chip maker into the main supplier of hardware and software for the AI industry.
Before that, she spent nearly 25 years in finance roles at technology companies, including Cisco and Microsoft, which gives the board an internal operator who knows the company’s numbers, customers, and operations well. Reacting to the announcement, Kress said:
“We will continue advancing the work that has made NVIDIA a leader in accelerated computing and AI and execute on the opportunities ahead.”
The board has also named longtime director Harvey C. Jones as its first-ever Chair, a role Nvidia never had while Huang combined the chief executive job with a board seat. Jones previously served as CEO and executive chairman of Synopsys.
Nvidia said operations, customer commitments, and its product roadmap should continue without interruption.
Huang’s departure removes him from Nvidia’s management and governance, so he can no longer direct executives, vote as a director, or take part in board deliberations.
He keeps his rights as a shareholder, though, since Nvidia’s 2026 proxy filing reported that he beneficially owned about 870.6 million shares, or 3.58% of the company, much of it held through trusts and related entities.
