Jensen Huang has stepped down as NVIDIA chief executive and resigned from the company’s board, triggering a market sell-off that sent NVIDIA shares down more than 12% in early Thursday trading. At that level, Reuters reported the company was at risk of shedding roughly $500 billion in market value.
NVIDIA CFO Colette Kress will take over as interim CEO while retaining her finance role. Kress has been NVIDIA’s CFO since 2013, and the company is considering both internal and external candidates for the permanent CEO position. NVIDIA has also appointed former Synopsys CEO Harvey C. Jones as chair of its board.
Huang co-founded NVIDIA in 1993 and led its evolution from a graphics-card maker into one of the central suppliers of hardware for the AI industry. His departure comes days after NVIDIA opened an independent investigation into his relationship with Alice Huang, a businesswoman whom U.S. authorities suspect of working for Chinese intelligence services.
Huang acknowledged the extramarital relationship and said he would cooperate with the investigation. The espionage allegations are separate from the confirmed relationship. When it announced the investigation, NVIDIA’s board said it had no reason to believe company secrets or national-security information had been compromised.
The New York Times subsequently reported a second alleged relationship involving Huang and Kimberly Powell, an NVIDIA executive who reported to him. Reports then emerged that the board was preparing to remove Huang from the CEO role.
The leadership change puts added attention on execution at a company where Huang has been closely involved in major customer relationships, the expansion of NVIDIA’s AI ecosystem and discussions around access to U.S. chips in China. ClearBridge Investments portfolio manager Michael Feldman told Reuters that NVIDIA’s technology direction appears visible for the coming years, while execution and coordination without its founder represent a risk.
- NVIDIA said its operations are expected to continue without interruption.
- The company said customer commitments are expected to continue without interruption.
- NVIDIA said its product plans are expected to continue without interruption.
The interim leadership’s first major public test is scheduled for November 17, when NVIDIA is due to report its quarterly financial results.
