Nvidia CEO Huang resigns; Kress named interim

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang resigns as of Nov. 12, 2026; this file photo shows him at Stanford University on April 30, 2026 — *Nvidia co-founder Jensen Huang at Stanford University on April 30, 2026 (file photo). Photo: Anderseidesvik, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.*

Nov. 11

Board accepted Huang’s resignation, effective immediately, per Nvidia’s 8-K

13.1%

drop at the open, to $151.01 (TBR calculation from CNBC and Nasdaq figures)

$96.2B

Q2 FY2027 revenue, up 106% from a year earlier (Nvidia)

33 years

Huang led Nvidia from its 1993 founding until Thursday

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang resigns immediately as president, chief executive and a member of the board, the Santa Clara, California, chipmaker announced Thursday, Nov. 12. A current report on Form 8-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission says the board accepted the resignation of Jen-Hsun Huang on Wednesday, Nov. 11, effective immediately.

Huang co-founded Nvidia in 1993 and had led it for 33 years, a period in which the company became a dominant supplier of chips used to train and run artificial intelligence systems. On Wednesday, Nvidia shares closed at $173.73 on Nasdaq. Using CNBC’s figure of 24.10 billion shares outstanding, that close implied a market value of about $4.19 trillion, according to calculations by The Boston Report from those figures. The stock opened Thursday at $151.01, down 13.1% from Wednesday’s close, according to calculations by The Boston Report from the CNBC open and the Nasdaq close. By 10:02 a.m. Eastern time, Nasdaq’s last sale was $161.12, down 7.26%, in a session that had already traded as low as $148.80 and as high as $163.10.

Chief Financial Officer Colette M. Kress, 59, was appointed interim chief executive and will keep the finance post while the board searches for a permanent successor, the company and the 8-K said. The board said it will consider internal and external candidates. Nvidia also named director Harvey C. Jones, 73, as its first chair of the board. The company said it will still report fiscal third-quarter 2027 results on Tuesday, Nov. 17, at about 1:20 p.m. Pacific time, with a conference call at 2 p.m. Pacific.

Kress named interim CEO, Jones becomes board chair

Kress has been Nvidia’s executive vice president and chief financial officer since she joined the company in September 2013, the newsroom release said. Before Nvidia, she spent nearly 25 years in finance roles at technology companies including Cisco and Microsoft. Jones has served on Nvidia’s board since 1993. The 8-K says he has been managing partner of Square Wave Ventures, a private family office, since 2004, and that he previously served as chief executive officer and executive chairman of Synopsys.

“Colette has helped lead NVIDIA through a period of extraordinary growth and has a deep understanding of our business, customers, operations and financial position,” Jones said in the company’s statement. “The Board has full confidence in Colette and the leadership team, and we expect the company’s operations, customer commitments and product roadmap to continue without interruption.”

Kress said Nvidia’s strength “has always come from its people,” and that, with the leadership team, she is “committed to building on the extraordinary foundation Jensen created over the last 33 years.” The company thanked Huang for his “immeasurable contributions to the company and the industry.” The Thursday release did not quote Huang and did not state a reason for the resignation.

What preceded the resignation

The departure comes during a board investigation that Nvidia announced on Sunday, Nov. 8. In a statement that day, the board said it was initiating an independent inquiry “in light of recent reporting that founder and CEO Jensen Huang has been the target of a foreign intelligence effort.” A committee of independent directors, assisted by outside counsel, would oversee the work, the board said. It also said it “has no reason to believe that either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised,” while adding that the inquiry “will examine all available information.”

On Tuesday, Nov. 10, the independent members of the board said they had retained former acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York Joon H. Kim and the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz “to conduct a thorough and independent investigation,” as The Boston Report reported when the firm was named.

The same Sunday, Nvidia published an email Huang sent to employees. “I was unfaithful to my wife,” he wrote. “My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did. I am deeply sorry.” He said he supported the investigation and would cooperate fully. “Regarding the national security concerns raised in news reports, NVIDIA’s Board of Directors has initiated an independent investigation,” the email said. “I love our country and our company. I am committed to protecting NVIDIA and supporting America’s national security.” He also wrote that leading Nvidia was “the privilege of my life” and that he was “fully committed to NVIDIA.” He did not name the person involved in the relationship and did not address the substance of the intelligence reports beyond supporting the review.

The New York Times, the Associated Press, NBC News and CNBC have identified the woman as Alice Huang, a Chinese businesswoman who, those outlets reported, held a senior position at Megaspeed, a Singapore-based company that has bought Nvidia chips. The two Huangs are not related, NBC News reported. The Times, cited by AP and NBC News, reported that U.S. intelligence concluded she was gathering information for Beijing. Those are allegations reported by news organizations; they have not been established in a court finding, and Huang’s Sunday email did not confirm any intelligence-related claim. NBC News also reported that Megaspeed and related firms remain under a U.S. criminal investigation of allegations they smuggled American-made chips into China. Megaspeed has separately said it will cooperate with U.S. inquiries, The Boston Report reported Thursday, as members of Congress have sought records on Nvidia and export controls.

China’s Foreign Ministry has rejected the spying allegations. At a regular briefing on Thursday, Nov. 12, spokesperson Mao Ning said: “On the so-called ‘Chinese spy,’ we have made our position clear. China’s sci-tech progress relies on independent innovation and open cooperation. The U.S. should stop fabricating the ‘Chinese spy’ narratives as a pretext for imposing technology restrictions.”

Late Wednesday, The New York Times reported that Huang also had an extramarital relationship with a senior Nvidia executive who reported to him, an account CNBC and NBC News also carried. NBC News said it had not independently verified the Times’ report, and that Nvidia and the executive had not responded to questions about it. Nvidia has not confirmed that account in its public statements. Reuters, in a dispatch republished Thursday, cited a person familiar with the matter as saying the board met Wednesday to consider Huang’s ouster after those reports, following earlier coverage that the board was preparing to act.

By the numbers

The stock’s move on Thursday extends a slide that began well before the resignation announcement. Nvidia closed at $239.24 on Oct. 6, Nasdaq records show, the same day it traded as high as $243.37. From that Oct. 6 close to Wednesday’s close of $173.73, the shares were down 27.4%, a The Boston Report calculation from Nasdaq closing prices. Measured to Thursday’s 10:02 a.m. last sale of $161.12, the decline from Oct. 6 was 32.7%. Using CNBC’s 24.10 billion shares outstanding, the market value implied by that last sale was about $3.88 trillion, down about $304 billion from Wednesday’s close, according to The Boston Report calculations. CNBC reported a market capitalization of $3.88 trillion at about the same time. The October-to-November decline has more than one cause; CNBC, for example, tied a roughly 9% drop last week in part to midterm election results. The Thursday open came after a sharp move in premarket trading as the board’s meeting came into view.

Line chart of Nvidia Nasdaq closing prices from Oct. 12 to Nov. 11, 2026, and the Nov. 12 last sale of $161.12 at 10:02 a.m. Eastern time, after an open at $151.01 — Source: Nasdaq official historical closes, Oct. 12–Nov. 11, 2026; Nov. 12 last sale, open and day range from Nasdaq and CNBC as of 10:02 a.m. ET; chart: The Boston Report

The leadership change arrives as Nvidia is still reporting rapid growth. In its Aug. 26 release of fiscal second-quarter 2027 results, for the period ended July 26, 2026, Nvidia reported revenue of $96.221 billion, up 18% from the prior quarter and up 106% from $46.743 billion a year earlier. Data-center revenue was $89.0 billion, up 117% from a year earlier. GAAP diluted earnings were $2.46 a share. The company said it expected fiscal third-quarter revenue of $108.0 billion, plus or minus 2%, and that the outlook assumed no data-center compute revenue from China.

Bar chart of Nvidia GAAP quarterly revenue from $39.3 billion in fiscal fourth-quarter 2025 to $96.2 billion in fiscal second-quarter 2027 — Source: Nvidia earnings releases for fiscal 2026 and fiscal 2027; chart: The Boston Report

What comes next, and first reactions

Nvidia has not named a permanent chief executive. Dan Ives, an analyst at Yorkville Ives & Co., told CNBC before the announcement that Kress was the person “to steady the ship,” but that, “longer term, probably someone from the outside” would be needed, and that the interim role would likely last about a year. CNBC, citing analysts, also listed other internal names that have been discussed as possible candidates, including Ian Buck, vice president and general manager of hyperscale; Bryan Catanzaro, vice president of applied deep learning; Chief Technology Officer Michael Kagan; and Chief Scientist Bill Dally. The company has not said who is under consideration.

In early trading, CNBC reported that Advanced Micro Devices rose 3% and Broadcom jumped more than 5%, while Intel, Marvell Technology and Micron Technology each fell more than 2%. Those figures are from mid-morning coverage and may change by the close.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, said in a statement reported by CNBC that the resignation “does not absolve him, other executives, or the company as a whole of responsibility for putting our national security at risk.” Warren, who CNBC said is poised to lead the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, said Huang and other Nvidia executives will still owe Congress an explanation of the company’s compliance with export controls, and she called on Congress to pass the AI Overwatch Act. Those are Warren’s statements; Nvidia has said it follows U.S. export laws, according to NBC News, and the board’s Nov. 8 statement said it had no reason to believe national security or company secrets were compromised, without presenting the findings of a completed investigation.

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, speaking to CNBC’s “Squawk Box” minutes before the resignation was announced, called Nvidia “a structurally important company” and said “the AI buildout, data centers, the next industrial revolution — that’s happening,” while adding that officials “remain concerned” that “the crown jewels” of U.S. chip technology remain in American or allied hands.

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Nvidia CEO Huang resigns as shares plunge 13% at the open