Key Takeaways
- Jensen Huang has resigned as Nvidia's president, CEO and board member, effective immediately.
- CFO Colette Kress is interim CEO and keeps the finance job while the board searches for a permanent successor.
- Nvidia gave no reason for the resignation; Q3 results stay scheduled for Tuesday, Nov 17.
The founder is out, effective immediately
Jensen Huang has resigned as Nvidia's president, chief executive officer and board member, effective immediately, the company announced Thursday — ending the 33-year run of the man who co-founded the chipmaker and built it into the defining company of the AI boom.
Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress has agreed to serve as interim CEO. She will keep her job as executive vice president and CFO while she runs the company, until a permanent successor is named. The board says it is starting a search and will consider internal and external candidates.
The board also appointed Harvey C. Jones as its first-ever chair. Jones has been an entrepreneur, technology executive and venture investor for over 30 years, including as CEO and executive chairman of Synopsys.
What Nvidia said — and what it did not say
The announcement gives no reason for Huang's resignation. It does not mention the independent investigation the board announced on Nov 8, days after reports that Huang had been targeted by a foreign intelligence effort — the story we covered when Nvidia's shares slid as the board opened that investigation. Whether that inquiry is finished, or what it found, the company did not say.
What the board did offer was reassurance. "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," Jones said.
Kress, who joined Nvidia in September 2013 after nearly 25 years in finance roles at Cisco and Microsoft, struck the same note: "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."
Investors were less calm. Nvidia shares fell sharply on Thursday morning — down roughly 5% to 6% in late-morning trading after an early plunge — a reaction that will get its first real test on Tuesday, Nov 17, when Nvidia reports third-quarter fiscal 2027 results at about 1:20 p.m. PT, as previously scheduled. Kress will lead that earnings call holding both of the company's top jobs.
The Twikup Take
Founders almost never leave like this — no reason given, no farewell quote, no transition period, five days before earnings. Whatever the board's investigation found, Nvidia now has to prove its AI empire runs on more than one man in a leather jacket. Tuesday's earnings call is suddenly the most important one in the company's history.
Image: Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of Nvidia, speaks in Stanford University's CS 153 course on April 30, 2026 by Anderseidesvik, CC BY-SA 4.0.