Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang resigns amid espionage and conduct investigation

Overview

Updated 24 minutes ago

Jensen Huang ran Nvidia for 33 years, building it from a graphics-card maker into the $4.2 trillion company at the center of the AI boom. On November 12, 2026, he resigned as president, chief executive and board member, effective immediately.

The board replaced him on an interim basis with chief financial officer Colette Kress and named former Synopsys chief executive Harvey Jones as its first-ever board chair. The trigger was a week of disclosures: a New York Times report that a woman he was seeing, Alice Huang, was an alleged Chinese intelligence asset, followed by a second report of a relationship with a subordinate. Nvidia lost more than $600 billion in market value that week.

Why it matters

Nvidia supplies most of the world's AI chips, and its CEO was the public face of the entire AI build-out. His exit puts a $4.2 trillion company and the financing web around it under new leadership.

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Key Indicators

$4.2T

Nvidia market value

The company's valuation at the time of Huang's resignation.

$600B

Market value lost in one week

Decline during the week the scandals broke, per Al Jazeera.

33%

Share price below October peak

Drop from the stock's early-October high, per ABC News.

After-hours drop on ouster reports

Fall in after-hours trading when reports of the board's plan emerged.

33 years

Huang's tenure as CEO

He had run the company since its founding in 1993.

~60

Executives reporting directly to Huang

An unusually flat structure that left no clear internal successor.

Voices

Curated perspectives — historical figures and your fellow readers.

People Involved

Jensen Huang

Former President, CEO and board member of Nvidia

Resigned effective November 12, 2026; subject of internal investigation and proposed shareholder class action

Colette Kress

Interim CEO and Executive Vice President & CFO of Nvidia

Serving as interim CEO while the board searches for a permanent successor

Harvey C. Jones

Chair of the Nvidia Board of Directors

Appointed the board's first-ever chair on November 12, 2026

Chris Malachowsky

Nvidia co-founder and executive

Named by analysts as a possible permanent CEO candidate

Ian Buck

Head of Nvidia's high-performance computing business

Named by analysts as a possible permanent CEO candidate

Alice Huang

Alleged Chinese intelligence asset linked to Jensen Huang

Named in New York Times and Financial Times reports as an alleged spy for China's Ministry of State Security; China denies the claim

Kimberly Powell

Nvidia vice president of health care

Reported by the New York Times to have had a relationship with Huang

Organizations Involved

Nvidia Corporation

Semiconductor company

Operating under interim CEO Colette Kress; searching for a permanent chief executive

The world's dominant supplier of AI accelerators, valued at roughly $4.2 trillion at the time of its CEO's resignation.

Nvidia Board of Directors

Corporate board

Leading the search for a permanent CEO; appointed its first-ever chair

The board that accepted Huang's resignation and is now choosing his permanent replacement.

Timeline

4 events Latest: Today

Tap a bar to jump to that date

November 2026
Huang resigns; Kress named interim CEO
Today Leadership Change

Huang resigns as president, CEO and board member effective immediately. CFO Colette Kress becomes interim CEO and Harvey Jones is named the board's first chair.
Today
Second relationship reported; board weighs ouster
Investigation

The New York Times reports Huang had a relationship with Nvidia executive Kimberly Powell; Semafor reports the board is preparing to name an interim CEO.
Yesterday
Nvidia board opens internal investigation
Investigation

The board announces an internal investigation into Huang's affair, four days after the espionage reports.
4 days ago
Reports name Huang's companion as an alleged Chinese spy
Investigation

The New York Times and Financial Times report that Alice Huang was an asset of China's Ministry of State Security recruited to collect information on Jensen Huang.
6 days ago

Scenarios

Kress sheds the interim tag and becomes permanent CEO

Possible Resolves by Q2 2027

Discussed by: eToro analyst Josh Gilbert; BBC reporting on internal candidates

Kress already fronts every earnings call and is a known quantity to investors. If the board prioritizes continuity and market confidence over engineering pedigree, it could keep her in the role permanently. Gilbert noted that doing the job permanently could be harder, since a company known for its technology edge might want an engineer in the chair.

Board promotes an engineer from inside Nvidia

Possible Resolves by Q2 2027

Discussed by: Saxo's Charu Chanana; Ten Cap's Jun Bei Liu; BBC reporting

Analysts name co-founder Chris Malachowsky and high-performance computing head Ian Buck as internal options. Malachowsky shares Huang's seniority and helped build Nvidia's computing technology; Buck could protect the technical edge but would face scrutiny on commercial and geopolitical relationships. The board has said it will consider internal candidates.

An outside executive takes the job

Uncertain Resolves by Q2 2027

Discussed by: Ten Cap's Jun Bei Liu; BBC reporting on external candidates

The board said it will consider external candidates, and analysts have floated tech entrepreneurs from outside Nvidia. The challenge, per Liu, is finding someone who combines Huang's technical understanding, strategic vision and relationships across the global technology industry. An outside hire would signal the board wants a break from the founder-led model.

Historical Context

3 moments from history that rhyme with this story — and how they unfolded.

May-September 1985

Steve Jobs ousted from Apple (1985)

Apple's board stripped co-founder Steve Jobs of operational control after a power struggle with CEO John Sculley, and Jobs resigned that September. The company he founded then spent more than a decade drifting before he returned in 1997.

Then

Apple lost its founding visionary and struggled to find direction through the 1990s.

Now

Jobs returned in 1997 and rebuilt Apple into one of the most valuable companies in the world, but the 12-year gap showed the cost of a founder's exit without a successor.

Why this matters now

Nvidia's board faces the same question Apple's did: whether a founder's company can be run by someone else, and how long the search for a replacement can take before the business suffers.

June 2017

Travis Kalanick resigns from Uber (2017)

Under pressure from investors after a series of scandals and an internal investigation into workplace culture, Uber CEO and co-founder Travis Kalanick resigned. The board then spent two months searching before hiring Dara Khosrowshahi from Expedia.

Then

Uber went through a public, two-month leadership vacuum before naming an outside CEO.

Now

Khosrowshahi stabilized the company and led it to a 2019 public offering, showing an outside hire can work for a founder-led firm in crisis.

Why this matters now

Uber's board chose an outside operator over internal candidates after a founder's conduct scandal. Nvidia's board is weighing the same internal-versus-external choice now.

May 2007

BP chief John Browne resigns (2007)

BP chief executive John Browne resigned after a court case revealed he had lied under oath about a relationship with a former partner. The personal conduct issue ended a 12-year tenure at one of the world's largest energy companies.

Then

Browne stepped down immediately and was replaced by his deputy, Tony Hayward.

Now

BP promoted from within, but the company's reputation took years to recover, and Hayward himself resigned in 2010 after the Deepwater Horizon spill.

Why this matters now

Browne's exit shows how quickly personal-conduct revelations can end a long-tenured CEO's run, and how boards often reach for an internal deputy as a stabilizing choice.