NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang resigns effective immediately
CFO Colette Kress becomes interim CEO and Harvey Jones is first board chair as the company searches for a permanent CEO.
NVIDIA said in a statement that Jensen Huang left his posts as president, chief executive officer, and board member, effective immediately. The board named Colette Kress, NVIDIA's executive vice president and chief financial officer, as interim CEO. Harvey C. Jones became the board’s first-ever chair.
Kress will keep her CFO duties while serving as interim CEO until the board chooses a permanent successor, according to the statement. The board is beginning a search that will review internal and external candidates. Kress joined NVIDIA in September 2013 after earlier finance positions at major technology firms such as Cisco and Microsoft.
Jones, a former CEO and executive chairman of Synopsys, said in the statement that the board expects operations, customer commitments and product roadmap to “continue without interruption”. He said Kress has a deep understanding of NVIDIA’s business, customers, operations and financial position. Kress said she is “committed to building on the extraordinary foundation Jensen created over the last 33 years” and will continue advancing accelerated computing and AI.
NVIDIA will report fiscal third-quarter earnings on Tuesday, November 17. Results are scheduled for about 1:20 p.m. PT, followed by an earnings call at 2 p.m. PT.
Update, November 12, 2026
Data Center Frontier reported on Thursday that NVIDIA's announcement did not give a reason for Jensen Huang's exit. The outlet, citing Reuters, said NVIDIA shares dropped more than 10% in Thursday premarket trading. Huang's departure followed an independent board investigation announced November 8 into whether he had been targeted by a foreign intelligence operation. Directors said at that time they had no indication that company secrets or national security were compromised. The reporting has drawn attention from Congress, with at least one senior Republican on the Senate Banking panel calling for Huang to step down. Data Center Frontier said no breach of NVIDIA technology has been publicly established.
Sources: NVIDIA Newsroom, Data Center Frontier
Arjun Mehta covers data centres, AI infrastructure and networks for Five Nines. He writes from company announcements, filings and published reporting.
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