Jensen Huang Resigns. Colette Kress Takes Over Nvidia Days Before Earnings
Nvidia-body-1″>Colette Kress has taken charge of Nvidia as interim CEO after co-founder Jensen Huang resigned as president, chief executive and a director on Nov. 12. She will keep her executive vice president and chief financial officer roles while the board searches for a permanent successor. The handover comes less than a week before Nvidia’s Nov. 17 earnings report. Kress has scheduled a company meeting for Nov. 18, according to a staff memo reported by Business Insider.
The initial reaction hit Nvidia hard: shares fell more than 14 percent early on Nov. 12, reaching $148.80 before recovering some of those losses.
Kress takes over a company that reported $96.2 billion in revenue for the quarter ended July 26, up 106 percent from a year earlier. Its data-center business brought in $89 billion of that total.
The board will consider internal and external candidates for a permanent CEO. Kress joined Nvidia in September 2013 as executive vice president and CFO. Before that, she spent nearly 25 years in finance roles at technology companies including Cisco and Microsoft.
“Colette has helped lead Nvidia through a period of extraordinary growth and has a deep understanding of our business, customers, operations and financial position,” Harvey Jones, appointed Nvidia’s first-ever board chair, said in the Nov. 12 announcement. “She is supported by an experienced leadership team that has been instrumental in executing Nvidia’s strategy and advancing its technology roadmap. The board has full confidence in Colette and the leadership team, and we expect the company’s operations, customer commitments and product roadmap to continue without interruption.”
“Nvidia’s strength has always come from its people, and together with our leadership team, I am committed to building on the extraordinary foundation Jensen created over the last 33 years,” Kress said in the announcement. “We will continue advancing the work that has made Nvidia a leader in accelerated computing and A.I., and execute on the opportunities ahead. Our focus remains on serving our customers, partners, developers and shareholders.”
Kress also inherits A.I. infrastructure partnerships already in motion. On Nov. 9, SK Telecom announced a memorandum of understanding with Nvidia and chipmaker Rebellions to develop and test systems combining Nvidia’s graphics processors with Rebellions’ chips. SK Telecom plans to deploy and test the resulting system in its A.I. data center; availability is expected in 2028.
“Jensen Huang’s resignation is a watershed moment for Nvidia, which now has to prove it can maintain its A.I. dominance without the leader largely responsible for building it. And given the broader A.I. industry’s heavy dependence on Nvidia’s chips, Huang’s departure introduces uncertainty well beyond the company itself,” Asa Hiken, senior analyst at Emarketer, said in comments emailed to reporters on Nov. 12.
The board’s investigation
Huang’s departure followed his Nov. 8 apology for being unfaithful to his wife and a board inquiry into reports that he had been targeted by a foreign intelligence effort. Nvidia’s board said on Nov. 8 that it had no reason to believe national security or company secrets had been compromised. The independent directors retained Joon H. Kim and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to conduct the investigation.
Separately, The New York Times reported that a Commerce Department investigation into Singapore-based Megaspeed was halted and transferred to the Justice Department after Nvidia representatives contacted Commerce officials. A Nov. 11 Senate letter cited reporting that Megaspeed had bought more than $4.8 billion in Nvidia chips since June 2024.
“A.I. technology has become critical to U.S. national security, making even the personal relationships of industry leaders a potential vulnerability,” Hiken said in the same emailed comments.
The founder’s shoes to fill
Huang’s shoes will be tough to fill. He led Nvidia for 33 years and described a flat management structure with about 60 direct reports at a 2024 Stripe event. Under his leadership, Nvidia became the first company to reach a $5 trillion market value in October 2025.
For Huang, a lot has changed in just a few weeks. It wasn’t too long ago that he was riding high on a European tour that included Nvidia GTC Berlin, held Oct. 20–22. He met leaders including U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and gave a keynote presentation featuring four Microduck robots.
But Huang may not be done as a figure in the A.I. race just yet. On Nov. 11, Elon Musk called the prospect of hiring him an “honor” in a reply to an X user. Musk did not announce or specify a job offer, role or business venture.
Nvidia is scheduled to report its third-quarter financial results for fiscal 2027 on Nov. 17, with the earnings call at 2 p.m. Pacific time.
