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Nvidia said in a statement that its board accepted Jensen Huang’s resignation as chief executive officer, president and board member with immediate effect on November 12, 2026. The company named chief financial officer Colette Kress as interim CEO while it considers both internal and external candidates for a permanent replacement. Kress has served in her current role since 2013 and the board also named former Synopsys CEO Harvey Jones as its first-ever chair.
The New York Times reported in October 2025 that Huang had a relationship with Alice Huang, a former executive at the Singapore-based firm Megaspeed that holds priority access to Nvidia chips, and US intelligence suspected her of spying for China. Huang admitted on November 8 that he had been unfaithful to his wife without naming her, and the Department of Justice has not drawn conclusions on any espionage element, Reuters reported. China rejected the spying allegation as a smear while senators including Elizabeth Warren demanded that Huang testify before Congress before Thanksgiving.
A subsequent New York Times report identified a second relationship with an Nvidia executive who reported directly to Huang, later named in multiple accounts as Kimberly Powell, the vice president of healthcare. Sources familiar with the matter told WIRED that the internal relationship and related business dealings likely weighed more heavily in the board’s decision than the national security questions. The Wall Street Journal reported that the board had been preparing to remove Huang before his resignation was announced.
Nvidia shares fell as much as 14 percent in trading on November 12 before closing down 4.3 percent, contributing to a market value decline of more than $500 billion since the scandal surfaced the previous week, CBS News figures show. The selloff extended to AI-related stocks with neocloud firms such as CoreWeave dropping more than 8 percent while competitors Advanced Micro Devices and Broadcom rose around 4 percent each on expectations they could gain market share, according to Reuters. Nvidia controls roughly 90 percent of the market for AI training chips, a dominance built under Huang since he co-founded the company in 1993.
Analysts at Wedbush Securities stated that while Huang’s departure creates uncertainty at a sensitive time for the AI sector, the company’s product roadmap remains on track for the next several years with strong customer demand intact. Reuters reported that Huang had been a key advocate for maintaining some access to the Chinese market and maintained close ties to US policymakers including President Donald Trump, who commented that federal investigators were examining the matter. The leadership change arrives as the industry faces broader questions about investment levels and regulatory scrutiny.
The BBC described the events as scandal-hit Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang quits, plunging AI chipmaking giant into turmoil. Huang, who transformed Nvidia into one of the world’s most valuable companies during the AI boom, will retain a stake of about 3.6 percent but will no longer hold an operational or board role. Kress is scheduled to host an internal meeting on November 18 to address next steps, an Nvidia memo showed.
