Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang resigns after affair and spy reports

Nvidia's board has accepted the resignation of co-founder and longtime CEO Jensen Huang, effective immediately, after reports of two extramarital affairs — one with an executive accused of spying for China and one with a Nvidia vice president who reported to him, according to The Verge. The decision removes the most visible figure in the AI chip boom from the company that supplies much of the hardware behind it, and hands day-to-day control to chief financial officer Colette Kress. It also caps a remarkable 33-year run at the center of the fast-growing AI industry.

What did Nvidia's board announce?

According to The Verge, Nvidia's board met late on a Wednesday night and accepted Huang's letter of resignation as CEO, president, and board member, effective immediately. The company named CFO Colette Kress as interim CEO. Kress has been with Nvidia since 2013 and previously worked at Cisco and Microsoft, The Verge reports.

Nvidia is also restructuring its leadership, appointing former Synopsys CEO Harvey C. Jones as the first board chair in its history. The announcement did not include a statement from Huang. Kress was quoted saying that Nvidia's "strength has always come from its people" and that she is "committed to building on the extraordinary foundation Jensen created over the last 33 years," adding that the company will keep advancing its work in accelerated computing and AI. The board said it is "initiating a search for a permanent Chief Executive Officer and will consider internal and external candidates," according to The Verge.

Who is the alleged Chinese spy tied to Huang?

The first affair, reported over the week before the resignation, was with Alice Huang (no relation to Jensen Huang), an executive at Megaspeed, a Singapore-based cloud provider and a large Nvidia customer, according to The Verge. Citing The New York Times, The Verge reported that the Megaspeed executive was also allegedly a surveillance operative passing information to China's Ministry of State Security, focused on gathering information about advanced US AI chips and on influencing what technology was made available to China.

Huang admitted he had been "unfaithful" to his wife and apologized to his family and shareholders in a memo to Nvidia employees over the weekend, The Verge reported. The reporting raised questions about whether the relationship may have influenced Huang's reported push to sell advanced chips to China — and potentially even President Donald Trump's own decisions on AI export controls, The Verge wrote.

What was the second affair that sealed his exit?

As of Monday, analysts, venture capitalists and even Trump had expected Huang to keep his role despite the first reports, and some Silicon Valley figures, including Elon Musk, had backed him, according to The Verge. That changed on Wednesday.

The Verge, citing The New York Times and five people who worked at Nvidia, reported that Huang had a second extramarital affair — this time with Nvidia's VP of healthcare, Kimberly Powell, an executive who reported directly to him. Shortly afterward, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that Nvidia's board was meeting that evening to decide Huang's future and potentially remove him. That meeting ended with his resignation.

Who could replace Huang as CEO?

With the permanent-CEO search underway, reports have already named a short list of possible successors, according to The Verge. They include interim CEO Colette Kress, Apple hardware chief Johny Srouji, Nvidia VP Ian Buck, AMD CEO Lisa Su — who is a cousin of Jensen Huang — and Arm CEO Rene Haas. The board has said it will weigh both internal and external candidates, and The Verge notes the speculation over Huang's replacement began almost as soon as the resignation was announced.

Why does Huang's exit matter for the AI industry?

Huang had led Nvidia since its founding in 1993, building it into what The Verge describes as the most powerful company in AI and the main supplier of the chips driving AI development and deployment in the US. Demand for Nvidia's chips has consistently outpaced supply, with AI CEOs regularly requesting more, sometimes without success. The company's roughly $99 billion investment portfolio — spanning AI companies from frontier labs to neoclouds — has given it wide sway across the sector. Huang had also developed a close relationship with President Trump. His departure leaves open how Nvidia's priorities, including on China and export policy, will shift under new leadership, and who will set the tone for the industry's most influential chipmaker.

How can you follow this story with Grafy?

This is a fast-moving corporate and policy story rather than an AI-tool release, so there is no feature to apply directly. From the Grafy News Desk, the practical move is to track it as it develops. Watch can monitor a page — such as Nvidia's investor relations or newsroom — and send an AI summary only when something changes, which helps the moment a filing or board statement lands. To get oriented on the background, Grafy Chat can put several models side by side so you can compare how each summarizes the reporting, and Reader can help you work through source documents and filings you collect and ask questions about them.

Frequently asked questions

Did Jensen Huang resign as Nvidia's CEO?

Yes. According to The Verge, Nvidia's board accepted Huang's resignation as CEO, president, and board member at a late Wednesday night meeting, effective immediately. Chief financial officer Colette Kress was named interim CEO, and the board began a search for a permanent successor, considering both internal and external candidates.

Who is the alleged Chinese spy linked to Jensen Huang?

According to The Verge, the first reported affair was with Alice Huang, an executive at Singapore-based cloud provider Megaspeed and a large Nvidia customer. Citing The New York Times, The Verge reported that she was allegedly a surveillance operative passing information to China's Ministry of State Security, focused on advanced US AI chips and on influencing the technology made available to China.

Who is now leading Nvidia?

Colette Kress, Nvidia's chief financial officer since 2013 and previously at Cisco and Microsoft, is interim CEO, according to The Verge. The company also appointed former Synopsys CEO Harvey C. Jones as its first board chair. A permanent CEO search is underway, with candidates reported to include Kress, Johny Srouji, Ian Buck, Lisa Su, and Rene Haas.

Source: The Verge

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Source: The Verge — AI — Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang resigns amid spy, affair scandals