Nvidia Announces Jensen Huang’s Departure, Names Colette Kress Interim CEO

Nvidia said Thursday that Jensen Huang has resigned as its president, chief executive officer and a member of its board, ending his 33-year run leading the company he co-founded. Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress has been appointed interim CEO and will continue to hold the finance post while directors search for a permanent successor.

The announcement changes the leadership of one of the central suppliers of computing technology for artificial intelligence. Nvidia must now manage a CEO search while maintaining its product schedule and preparing to report quarterly results next week, leaving Kress with immediate responsibility for both day-to-day leadership and the company’s financial communications.

Kress takes charge as Nvidia begins a permanent CEO search

Nvidia’s November 12 announcement, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, says its board accepted Huang’s resignation on November 11, effective immediately. Huang also departed the board, making this more than a temporary handoff of the chief executive role. The announcement did not give a reason for his resignation or identify a preferred successor.

Kress, 59, has served as Nvidia’s executive vice president and CFO since September 2013. Her remit has included leading the finance organization through a period of rapid expansion in demand for AI computing. Before joining Nvidia, she spent nearly 25 years in financial roles at companies including Cisco and Microsoft, according to the company.

The board will consider candidates from inside and outside Nvidia. No appointment deadline was disclosed, and Nvidia has not said whether Kress wants the position permanently. For now, the dual CEO and CFO arrangement places the company’s operating leadership and financial reporting under the same executive as it approaches an earnings release.

Nvidia also named Harvey C. Jones as its first board chair. Jones, 73, has served as a director since 1993 and has a background as a technology executive, including service as CEO and executive chairman of semiconductor design software company Synopsys. He has also been managing partner of Square Wave Ventures since 2004, according to the SEC filing.

Jones said the board has confidence in Kress and the existing management team. In the company’s statement, he expressed the expectation that operations, customer commitments and the product roadmap would continue without interruption. That is a statement of the board’s expectations, not an assurance that the leadership change carries no execution risk.

Kress said she intended to build on the foundation Huang established and continue serving customers and partners. Neither her comments nor the board’s release announced a change in product strategy, leadership structure below the CEO level or financial guidance.

An independent board investigation remains part of the backdrop

Huang’s exit followed several days of unusual scrutiny. In a November 8 statement, Nvidia’s board said it was beginning an independent investigation following reports that Huang had been targeted by a foreign intelligence effort. The directors said at the time that they had no reason to believe national security or Nvidia secrets had been compromised, and that Huang had agreed to cooperate.

The November 8 statement described an inquiry into reported circumstances, not a finding that wrongdoing or a security breach had occurred. Nvidia’s November 12 resignation announcement did not attribute Huang’s departure to the investigation, state that the review had reached a conclusion or identify a reason for the change. Treating the inquiry as the established cause of his resignation would go beyond the disclosures.

On November 10, Nvidia’s independent directors said they had retained former acting U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim and the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to conduct the independent investigation. That announcement established who would undertake the review, but offered no findings or timetable for completion.

On November 8, the board publicly expressed confidence in Huang and his leadership team while initiating the inquiry. Four days later, the company disclosed his departure and installed an interim CEO. Nvidia has not publicly detailed the discussions or circumstances that led to the resignation, leaving a gap between its earlier statement of support and its decision to appoint new leadership.

Those unanswered questions will sit alongside the more immediate management issue. A newly appointed board chair must oversee the CEO search, while Kress and other executives are expected to keep the business operating. The company has not said whether it will separate the CFO and interim CEO roles before naming a permanent chief executive.

November 17 earnings will offer the next operating update

Nvidia’s third-quarter fiscal 2027 results are scheduled for Tuesday, November 17, at approximately 1:20 p.m. Pacific time, with a conference call at 2 p.m. The timetable was reiterated in the CEO-transition release. It gives shareholders a near-term opportunity to hear how management discusses financial performance and the outlook under the interim leadership arrangement.

The earnings report will follow a period of exceptional growth. In its most recent reported quarter, the three months ended July 26, Nvidia recorded $96.2 billion in revenue, a 106% increase from a year earlier. Data Center revenue was $89.0 billion, up 117% year over year, showing how heavily its results depend on spending for AI computing infrastructure.

In August, Nvidia projected roughly $108.0 billion in revenue for the third quarter, plus or minus 2%, and a gross margin of about 74%, plus or minus half a percentage point. That was the guidance issued at the time, not a new forecast accompanying the CEO announcement. The company also said its outlook did not assume Data Center compute revenue from China.

That growth depends on a continuing flow of processors, networking equipment and associated technology into large computing deployments. A change at the top may raise questions about responsibility for long-term strategy and customer relationships, but Nvidia’s November 12 release did not report cancellations, production delays or revised financial targets.

Investors will be able to compare the upcoming report with the August outlook and assess whether the company changes its expectations. Any conclusions about the effect of Huang’s departure on future sales or margins would be premature without more information from Nvidia or its customers.

Huang had been Nvidia’s public face since its founding in 1993, making his departure a major governance shift even if its existing product plans continue. The permanent CEO search has no announced completion date. The first fixed milestone is November 17, when Nvidia is scheduled to discuss its quarterly results under Kress’s interim leadership.