Jensen Huang resigns as Nvidia CEO; CFO Colette Kress becomes interim chief

Nvidia said on Thursday that Jensen Huang had immediately relinquished the president and CEO roles and left the board. The resignation ends the co-founder's 33 years leading the chipmaker. Nvidia named CFO Colette Kress interim CEO while the board considers internal and external candidates for a permanent appointment. Kress, Nvidia's CFO since 2013, will also continue overseeing finance. Nvidia offered no explanation for the resignation and thanked Huang for contributions to Nvidia and the industry.

The board appointed Harvey Jones as Nvidia's first chair. Jones previously served as CEO and executive chairman of Synopsys, a chip design software company. Jones said the board fully trusted Kress and the leadership team. Jones said the board expected Nvidia's operations, customer commitments and product roadmap to proceed without disruption. Kress said Kress was committed to building on the foundation Huang established over 33 years. Nvidia said third-quarter results would be released on Tuesday as planned.

Yahoo! Finance data showed Nvidia shares trading at $160.28, down 7.7%, shortly after Thursday's market opening. The shares had earlier reached a low of $148.80. The scandal has erased hundreds of billions of dollars from Nvidia's market capitalization. Nvidia lost about $430 billion in market value over two days earlier this week. Nvidia and Huang also face a proposed shareholder class action. Lawmakers had threatened to subpoena Huang.

Four days before the resignation, Huang acknowledged marital infidelity in a staff letter, prompting the board to launch an independent investigation. The New York Times reported that Huang had told the board about intimacy with Alice Huang, an executive at Nvidia customer Megaspeed in Singapore. The Times reported in October that US officials had determined Alice Huang was an intelligence asset for China. The Financial Times subsequently reported that a US government memo described a romantic relationship between Jensen Huang and Alice Huang. China has denied the allegations.

On Wednesday, The New York Times reported that Jensen Huang also had a relationship with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia's vice president of health care. Powell reports directly to Jensen Huang. The Wall Street Journal subsequently reported that the board was preparing to remove Jensen Huang, increasing pressure on the CEO.

Huang managed Nvidia with about 60 executives reporting directly to Huang. Huang has said Huang did not believe in succession planning, leaving Nvidia without a clear successor. Before the resignation announcement, a person inside Nvidia told the Financial Times that appointing Kress interim CEO would be the simplest option. Sources cited by the Financial Times also identified Nvidia data center business leader Ian Buck and Arm CEO Rene Haas as potential candidates. Haas previously worked as an Nvidia executive. The Wall Street Journal said Huang remains Nvidia's largest shareholder, holding about 3.6%.