Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang resigns; Kress named interim

File photo: Jensen Huang at Stanford University, April 30, 2026. Photo: Anderseidesvik, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Nvidia Corp. said Thursday that Jensen Huang has resigned as president, chief executive officer and a member of its board of directors, effective immediately, and that chief financial officer Colette Kress will serve as interim CEO.

The announcement came in a news release issued by the company on Nov. 12 and a related regulatory filing. The board said it is starting a search for a permanent chief executive and will consider internal and external candidates. Kress will keep her role as chief financial officer while she serves as interim CEO.

The board also named Harvey C. Jones as its first-ever chair. Jones, a technology executive and venture investor, previously served as chief executive and executive chairman of Synopsys, the company said.

“Colette has helped lead NVIDIA through a period of extraordinary growth and has a deep understanding of our business, customers, operations and financial position,” Jones said in the release. He said the board has full confidence in Kress and expects operations, customer commitments and the product roadmap to continue without interruption.

Kress said she is committed to building on the foundation Huang created over 33 years. Nvidia said it will still report third-quarter fiscal 2027 results on Tuesday, Nov. 17, after markets close, followed by an earnings call.

The resignation follows days of pressure on the chipmaker. As Canada News Media reported on Nov. 9, Nvidia’s board opened an independent review of Huang after reports in the New York Times and the Financial Times about a foreign intelligence effort aimed at him, which Nvidia and Huang have not confirmed and which China’s foreign ministry has called unsubstantiated. Huang later acknowledged an extramarital affair in an email to staff, according to CNBC. Nvidia’s release on Thursday did not give a reason for the resignation.

The leadership change matters to Canadian investors because artificial intelligence stocks have driven much of the volatility on the Toronto Stock Exchange this month. The S&P/TSX composite index was down 0.514 per cent in early trading Thursday, to 36,224.73, as questions about Nvidia’s leadership weighed on technology shares, according to TMX Money figures in our morning market report. The index had fallen 736 points on Nov. 5 during an AI stock rout that hit Toronto.

Nvidia’s chips also underpin the computing plans of Canadian AI firms. Ottawa announced on Oct. 29 that it would invest up to $1.6 billion in Cohere, one of the Canadian companies that depend on large supplies of advanced processors. Nvidia said its product roadmap and customer commitments are not expected to change.

The Nov. 17 earnings report will be the first test of how the company’s customers and investors respond to the new interim leadership. Nvidia has not said when it expects to name a permanent chief executive. Our earlier coverage, Nvidia shares fall 4% as board probes CEO Jensen Huang, has the background on the board’s review.

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