Nvidia announced Thursday that co-founder Jensen Huang has resigned as president, chief executive officer and a member of the board of directors, effective immediately. The move ends Huang’s 33-year leadership of the company he helped establish in 1993. Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress, who has held the finance role since September 2013, will serve as interim CEO while retaining her CFO duties. The board has begun a formal search for a permanent replacement and will consider both internal and external candidates.

The company also named Harvey C. Jones, a former chief executive and executive chairman of Synopsys, as its first-ever board chair. Nvidia stated that it expects operations, customer commitments and its product roadmap to continue without interruption. Third-quarter fiscal 2027 results remain scheduled for November 17.

Background to the Departure

Huang’s resignation followed a rapid series of developments. Earlier in the week, he acknowledged in a letter to staff that he had been unfaithful to his wife. Reports detailed a relationship with Alice Huang, a data-center executive at a Singapore-based Nvidia customer whom U.S. officials had identified as a suspected Chinese intelligence asset. China has denied the allegations. Additional reporting then emerged concerning a second relationship with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of healthcare, who reported directly to Huang.

The board opened an independent investigation and retained former acting U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim to lead the probe. Nvidia’s official statement did not cite a specific reason for the resignation. It thanked Huang for his “immeasurable contributions to the company and the industry.”

Profile of the Interim Chief Executive

Colette Kress becomes the first person other than Huang to lead Nvidia since its founding. She joined the company in 2013 and has overseen its finances through its expansion from a graphics specialist into a dominant supplier of chips for accelerated computing and artificial intelligence. Before Nvidia, she spent nearly 25 years in senior finance positions at technology firms including Cisco and Microsoft, and earlier held roles at Texas Instruments. She holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Arizona and an MBA from Southern Methodist University.

Kress will continue to manage the finance organization while directing day-to-day operations on an interim basis. She is a familiar presence to investors through earnings calls and has guided financial planning during periods of rapid growth.

Market Response and Next Steps

Nvidia shares fell sharply after the announcement. In early trading the stock declined between roughly 8 percent and more than 13 percent at various points, with prices reported in the range of approximately $151 to $160. Tokenized versions of the shares also dropped about 10 percent in after-hours and 24-hour trading. The company had already seen substantial market-value declines earlier in the week amid the unfolding reports.

Huang remains Nvidia’s largest individual shareholder, with a stake of about 3.6 percent. The board’s search for a permanent chief executive is underway. Names that have surfaced in market discussion as potential candidates include internal executives such as the head of the data-center business and external figures with prior Nvidia ties. No timeline for a permanent appointment has been disclosed.

Nvidia’s next major public checkpoint is the third-quarter earnings release on November 17, which will provide the first detailed view of financial performance under the new interim leadership structure.