Jensen Huang stepped down as Nvidia’s CEO and board member with immediate effect, the company announced on Thursday, November 12. Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress will serve as interim CEO.
What Nvidia announced
Nvidia’s board said in a statement that Huang resigned from his positions as President, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and board member. Huang founded the company in 1993 and led it for 33 years.
Colette Kress, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, has taken over as interim CEO. She will keep the CFO role until a permanent successor is found. She has worked at Nvidia since September 2013, and before that spent nearly 25 years in finance roles at technology companies, including Cisco and Microsoft.
The board has started a search for a permanent CEO and will consider candidates both inside and outside the company.
First-ever chair of the board
The board also appointed Harvey C. Jones as the company’s first-ever chair. Jones has been an entrepreneur, technology industry executive and venture capital investor for more than 30 years. He was CEO and chairman of the board of Synopsys.
Jones said the company’s operations, customer commitments and product development plans will continue without disruption. Kress said she will build on the foundation Huang created. The statement thanks him for his “invaluable” contribution to the company and the industry. It does not give a reason for his resignation.
Investigation announced four days earlier
On Sunday, November 8, the board announced an independent investigation into reports that Huang was the target of a foreign intelligence operation. A committee of independent directors, supported by outside lawyers, oversaw the probe. At the time, the board said it had no reason to believe national security or Nvidia’s trade secrets had been compromised, and Huang pledged to cooperate.
On Tuesday, November 10, the independent board members said they had hired Joon H. Kim, former acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and his firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to lead the investigation.
Quarterly results remain on schedule
Nvidia will publish its results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2027 on Tuesday, November 17, at about 1:20 p.m. Pacific Time. The investor conference call is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. PT. The company stressed that the date remains unchanged.
