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Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Steps Down After 33 Years as Scandal Shakes the AI Giant
Jensen Huang, the co-founder who built Nvidia from a three-man startup into the world's most valuable chipmaker, has resigned as chief executive after 33 years, ending one of the longest and most celebrated runs in Silicon Valley — brought down in days by a scandal over two extramarital affairs.
The exit in numbers
The shares recovered part of the fall to close down 4.3%. Nvidia became the first company to pass a $5 trillion market value in October 2025.
What happened
Nvidia announced on Thursday, 12 November, that Huang had resigned as chief executive and as a member of the board, and would have no role at the company going forward. The announcement came about 42 minutes before the US stock market opened. Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress takes over as interim CEO while the board searches for a permanent successor, considering internal and external candidates. Former Synopsys chief executive Harvey Jones, a board member, becomes Nvidia's first-ever board chairman.
The 63-year-old founded Nvidia in 1993 with Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem, sketching the plan over breakfast at a Denny's diner in San Jose. He took it from the brink of bankruptcy in the 1990s to the centre of the artificial-intelligence boom, with the company's chips powering most of the world's AI data centres and supercomputers.
The scandal that ended it
It unravelled in less than a week. First came reports that Huang had had an affair with a Chinese businesswoman whom US authorities had identified as a suspected spy for Beijing. Nvidia's board opened an investigation, and Huang apologised for his actions. Then, on Wednesday, the New York Times reported a second affair — this time with a senior company employee who reported directly to him. The board met later that day, and by Thursday morning Huang was out.
Reuters, which first reported the resignation, described Huang's exit as leaving the AI industry without its biggest champion. The crisis is as much about governance as about conduct: a chief executive with some 60 direct reports, whose personal authority was inseparable from the company's strategy, is not easily replaced.
What happens next at Nvidia
Kress, 59, is the executive who knows the numbers best — and, according to people familiar with the company, the one most willing to challenge Huang's enormous, risky bets. She has been finance chief since September 2013, a period in which Nvidia's annual revenue grew from $4.13 billion to $215.9 billion. Whether she keeps the job permanently is undecided. Other names mentioned as possible successors include Ian Buck, who runs hardware and software products for hyperscale AI, and Arm chief Rene Haas.
US President Donald Trump weighed in on Thursday, saying former Apple chief executive Tim Cook should replace Huang. Trump, a close ally of Huang's in Silicon Valley, called him a man who had "done a fantastic job".
Why it matters beyond Nvidia
Nvidia is not just another large company. Its graphics chips sit at the heart of the AI build-out, and its market value — the first to cross $5 trillion, in October 2025 — makes it a pillar of the US stock market. The shares' 14% early plunge on Thursday dragged the broader market down with them, a reminder of how much of the AI boom rests on a single company and, until now, a single leader.
The question now is whether the machine Huang built can run without him. The chips, the software platform CUDA and the customer relationships all remain. What leaves with him is the instinct that steered Nvidia through three decades of gambles — and the rock-star status that made customers, investors and even rival chief executives treat his word as the direction of the industry.
Frequently asked questions
References
- Reuters — Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to step down in big blow to AI boom, 12 Nov 2026
- Reuters — Jensen Huang steps down: the hands-on kingmaker behind the AI boom, 12 Nov 2026
- Reuters — Who is Nvidia interim CEO Colette Kress?, 12 Nov 2026
- Reuters — Colette Kress, the CFO who challenged Huang's bets, is Nvidia's interim CEO, 13 Nov 2026
- Wikipedia — Jensen Huang (background and photograph)
- Wikipedia — Nvidia (background and headquarters photograph)
Photographs: portrait of Jensen Huang and Nvidia headquarters via Wikimedia Commons.