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Jensen Huang resigns as Nvidia CEO, effective immediately, the company said on Thursday, 12 November 2026. He also leaves the board and his role as president. CFO Colette Kress takes over as interim CEO and keeps her CFO job.
The move ends 33 years of Huang running the company he co-founded. It lands five days before Nvidia reports its third-quarter earnings.
What Nvidia announced as Jensen Huang resigns
Nvidia’s release was short and gave no reason. Here are the confirmed points.
- Interim CEO: Colette Kress joined Nvidia in 2013 and has led finance since. She will run the company and stay CFO until the board names a permanent CEO.
- New board chair: Harvey Jones becomes the board’s first chair. He is a former Synopsys CEO and has sat on Nvidia’s board since 1993.
- CEO search: The board will look at internal and external candidates. Reports say it hired an outside firm to help.
- Business as usual: Jones said he expects operations, customer commitments and the product roadmap to continue without interruption.
Why did Huang leave?
Nvidia did not say. The background comes from Huang’s own admission and media reports.
On 8 November, Huang emailed staff to apologise for an affair, and the board opened an internal investigation. The New York Times then reported on a relationship with a woman who, according to reports, has links to Chinese intelligence. Those links are allegations. Nvidia has not confirmed them.
On 11 November, reports of a second relationship with an Nvidia employee followed. Reuters did not name the employee.
Congress wants answers too. House Foreign Affairs Chairman Brian Mast says Huang agreed to testify behind closed doors after lawmakers threatened subpoenas. Reports point to a date by Thanksgiving, but nothing is fixed yet.
How did Nvidia stock react?
Nvidia shares fell by double digits in premarket trading on 12 November. Reports put the drop between 11% and 13%. The stock had already hit its lowest level since June 2025 the day before. More than $300 billion in market value has gone since last Friday.
Earnings stay on schedule. Nvidia reports on Tuesday, 17 November, at about 1:20 p.m. PT, which is around 2:50 a.m. IST on 18 November. The call starts at 2 p.m. PT.
What changes for gamers and AI buyers?
Nothing right away. Nvidia says the roadmap continues. No report links the leadership change to GeForce supply or pricing.
The bigger questions sit in AI. Nvidia has agreed to buy Hugging Face for $12.9 billion, with the deal expected to close in the first half of next year. It also plans a new line of high-end AI PCs this holiday season. Both depend on how steady the new leadership proves.
What you should do
- Investors: Watch the 17 November earnings call. Kress will likely get her first big questions as interim CEO there.
- Gamers: No action needed. Keep an eye on any word about GeForce plans, and read our earlier report on the board’s reported plans for the timeline.
- Everyone: Treat the China-related claims as unproven. Only the resignation and the leadership changes are confirmed by Nvidia.
Update, 13 November 2026: This is a developing story. We will add news on the permanent CEO search and Huang’s congressional testimony as it lands.
Sources: Nvidia’s CEO transition announcement, Huang’s resignation report
