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Nvidia Chief Jensen Huang Resigns as Board Scandal Engulfs the World’s Leading AI Chipmaker
By Clara Ledger
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Jensen Huang has resigned as chief executive of Nvidia, according to reports Thursday from The Hill, NBC News and Axios.
The reports said Colette Kress, Nvidia’s chief financial officer, will serve as interim chief executive. The Hill and NBC News both named Kress to the interim role.
Huang’s resignation follows days of mounting scrutiny and reporting surrounding allegations involving the longtime chief executive. The nature of those reports, and what Nvidia’s board was said to be weighing, has placed the future of one of the world’s most closely watched companies in sharp focus.
Reuters, in a report carried by France 24, said Nvidia’s board was meeting late Wednesday to decide whether to oust Huang, according to a source familiar with the matter. The report said the company was grappling with fallout from reports of two extramarital affairs involving Huang.
Those allegations and the reported reasons for the board’s deliberations remain matters of reporting — not findings established by Nvidia, a regulator or a court. No allegation of misconduct has been established as fact in the reporting available.
The company now faces a leadership transition at an unusually consequential moment for both Nvidia and the wider AI industry, which relies heavily on its chips. It also raises questions about governance, succession planning and the durability of investor confidence in a company whose leadership has been closely identified with Huang.
Nvidia is the world’s dominant supplier of AI chips, according to Reuters reporting carried by France 24. Its processors power much of the infrastructure behind the current expansion of artificial intelligence, making any change at the top a matter of broader market and policy interest.
Kress’s appointment as interim chief executive would put Nvidia’s chief financial officer in charge during a period of intense attention from investors, customers and policymakers. The role carries responsibility for sustaining operations and confidence while the board considers a permanent successor.
Before the resignation reports, Channel NewsAsia had reported that analysts viewed Kress and Ian Buck, who oversees Nvidia’s data centre business, as the most likely successors. That earlier reporting framed Kress as a leading candidate alongside Buck, an engineer at the centre of Nvidia’s data-centre work.
The change in leadership also arrives against a backdrop of policy and supply concerns surrounding Nvidia’s position in the global chip market. The company sits at the intersection of commercial demand for AI capacity and government interest in controlling access to advanced technology.
Reporting in the Japan Times said the scandal involving Huang could spur Washington to tighten restrictions on remote use of advanced processors. The same reporting said Chinese AI firms were moving to secure Nvidia chip capacity, underscoring the commercial stakes attached to continued access to the company’s products.
Those developments remain reported context rather than announced changes to U.S. policy. They nevertheless illustrate how a leadership crisis at Nvidia can extend beyond the company itself into questions about access to technology and competition in the global AI market.
The repercussions were also being watched in Asian markets. Yonhap reported that Seoul shares snapped a two-day rally amid escalating Nvidia risks, a reminder that the company is closely followed well beyond the United States. Nvidia’s own shares fell about 15% on Thursday — down 14.4% to $148.80 — as investors reacted to the resignation, according to The Hill; NBC News reported the fall was weighing on the broader market, and that Huang has agreed to brief Congress on the matters surrounding his departure.
For Nvidia, the immediate questions now move from the resignation itself to continuity. The board must choose a permanent chief executive, reassure customers and investors, and demonstrate that the transition can be managed without disruption to a business that remains central to AI development.
Kress has long held one of the company’s most important executive roles as chief financial officer. Her appointment to the interim role provides continuity at the top, although it does not resolve the question of who will lead Nvidia in the longer term.
Nvidia’s position at the centre of the AI industry means the transition will be watched by customers, competitors and governments. The company is at the centre of a technology race that has made its chips a strategic asset as well as a commercial product.
What is established in the reports is the leadership change. The Hill, NBC News and Axios reported Huang’s resignation on Thursday, and The Hill and NBC News reported Kress as interim chief executive.
What prompted it, beyond the reported allegations and the board deliberations described by Reuters, remains a matter for further reporting. For now, the facts available are those contained in the reports: a board meeting, allegations reported but not established, a resignation, and an interim successor.
— Clara Ledger, Markets Desk
Clara Ledger covers money and markets for The Library Media — the overall market, the day’s winners and losers, and why they moved.
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