Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Resigns Effective Immediately, CFO Colette Kress Named Interim CEO

Published November 12, 2026, 7:50 PM PKT. Based on Nvidia's own announcement on November 12, 2026 (primary source) and reporting by TechCrunch, Inc. and XTB the same day (secondary sources). The board's investigation into reports that Huang was targeted by a foreign-intelligence effort has produced no public findings yet.

Nvidia said on November 12, 2026 that Jensen Huang has resigned as president, chief executive officer and a member of the board, effective immediately, ending a 33-year run at the head of the company that became the backbone of the artificial intelligence boom.

The company's board accepted Huang's resignation on Wednesday, November 11, according to a regulatory filing cited by TechCrunch. Nvidia named chief financial officer Colette Kress interim chief executive while it searches for a permanent successor, and appointed Harvey C. Jones as its first-ever chair of the board.

MABOnChain reported earlier on November 12 that The Wall Street Journal said the board was preparing to remove Huang and could meet as soon as Wednesday to decide his future. The resignation arrived the next morning, before U.S. markets opened.

Kress takes over, Jones becomes first chair

Kress has served as Nvidia's executive vice president and chief financial officer since joining the company in September 2013, according to Nvidia's announcement. She will keep the chief financial officer role while serving as interim chief executive. Before Nvidia, she spent nearly 25 years in finance roles at 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," Jones said in the announcement. "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 is a managing partner of Square Wave Ventures and a former chief executive of Synopsys, and he has sat on Nvidia's board since 1993, according to TechCrunch. Kress said in the announcement that she is committed to building on the foundation Huang created over the last 33 years, and that the company's focus remains on serving customers, partners, developers and shareholders.

The board said it will consider internal and external candidates for the permanent chief executive job, and it has given no timeline for naming a successor. Nvidia will still report its third-quarter fiscal 2027 results on Tuesday, November 17, at about 1:20 p.m. PT, followed by an earnings call at 2 p.m. PT, as previously scheduled.

Shares down 12 percent as $855 billion evaporates

Nvidia's shares fell nearly 12 percent in early trading on Thursday, according to TechCrunch. The stock has now fallen more than 19 percent since Friday, erasing more than $855 billion in market value in less than a week.

The slide began on Wednesday evening, when shares dropped 8.6 percent in after-hours trading after the Journal reported the board was preparing to oust Huang. Before the open on Thursday, the stock traded near $156, down almost 10 percent, according to XTB.

The selloff spread across the AI trade. CoreWeave fell about 12 percent in premarket trading on Thursday, reversing part of a 25 percent rally on Wednesday, while Nebius dropped 20 percent and IREN fell 8 percent, according to TechCrunch.

Huang co-founded Nvidia and held about 3.61 percent of the company, making him its fourth-largest investor, according to The Hindu BusinessLine. His departure removes the executive most associated with the AI infrastructure boom, and it leaves the market guessing who will run the world's most valuable chipmaker through its next product cycle.

The investigation that led here

The resignation follows a board inquiry that began four days earlier. On November 8, Nvidia's board said it was opening an independent investigation after reports that Huang had been the target of a foreign-intelligence effort. A committee of independent directors, assisted by outside counsel, was put in charge of the work.

On November 10, the independent directors said they had retained Joon H. Kim, a former acting U.S. attorney, and the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen and Katz to conduct the investigation. Neither that statement nor the November 12 transition announcement disclosed any findings or a completion date.

TechCrunch reported that Huang had admitted to a romantic affair with a woman described as an alleged Chinese intelligence asset. The New York Times reported an affair with an Nvidia executive, and The Wall Street Journal reported the board was preparing to remove him. Nvidia's November 8 statement said the board had no reason to believe that national security or Nvidia secrets had been compromised, while adding that the inquiry would examine all available information. Those remain allegations and an open inquiry, not findings, and the company has disclosed no conclusion about whether any secrets were compromised.

"Jensen's contributions to NVIDIA are profound. NVIDIA is one of the most consequential technology companies in the world. The Board and the company thank Jensen for his immeasurable contributions to the company and the industry," Nvidia said in its announcement.

The AI investment web now in question

Huang's exit raises questions about the future of Nvidia's sprawling AI investments, which have helped bankroll the startups and data centers that buy its chips, according to TechCrunch. As of the end of its second quarter, Nvidia reported $99 billion in investments and another $25 billion in commitments, plus $36 billion in cloud service commitments that help AI cloud operators finance the graphics processors and data center equipment they buy from Nvidia.

The company's stakes include $2 billion in CoreWeave in January and $2 billion in Nebius in March, $30 billion in OpenAI and $10 billion in Anthropic, $3.5 billion in MediaTek, and up to $105 billion in credit guarantees for an OpenAI data center campus in Ohio, according to TechCrunch.

Investors were already uneasy about the debt companies in the AI buildout are raising to sustain it, TechCrunch noted, and Huang's departure adds another uncertainty to a trade that had already lost momentum. Whether Kress or a permanent successor keeps funding the same web of customers, suppliers and AI labs at the same pace is now an open question for the November 17 earnings call.

Bitcoin slides with tech stocks

Bitcoin ($BTC) fell with the tech selloff. The largest cryptocurrency traded near $72,200 at 14:36 UTC on November 12, down about 1.7 percent on the day after touching an intraday low of $71,762, according to Binance data via Finnhub. Earlier in the day, CoinDesk put Bitcoin ($BTC) near $73,400, down 0.7 percent since midnight UTC, with Ether ($ETH) near $2,044.

The slide adds to a weak week for crypto demand. U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds lost $299.9 million on Wednesday, a fifth straight day of outflows that adds up to about $1.44 billion since November 5, according to SoSoValue data cited by CoinDesk. BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust accounted for $269.7 million of Wednesday's total, its ninth straight session of redemptions.

What to watch next

Three dates and decisions will shape what comes next. The first is November 17, when Nvidia reports third-quarter results and Kress faces investors for the first time as interim chief executive. The second is the board's search for a permanent successor, with no timeline given and both internal and external candidates under consideration. The third is the investigation itself: the board has disclosed no findings, no completion date and no conclusion about whether any Nvidia secrets were compromised, and any disclosure there could move the stock again.

Sources

• NVIDIA Newsroom, NVIDIA Announces CEO Transition, November 12, 2026 (primary source: Huang resigned as president, chief executive officer and board member, effective immediately; Colette Kress appointed interim CEO while keeping the CFO role; Harvey C. Jones appointed first-ever chair of the board; board searching for a permanent successor; third-quarter fiscal 2027 results on November 17 as scheduled; Kress at Nvidia since September 2013)
• TechCrunch, Nvidia's Jensen Huang resigns, chipmaker names CFO Colette Kress as interim CEO, November 12, 2026 (secondary source: board accepted resignation on Wednesday per regulatory filing; shares down nearly 12 percent in early trading, more than 19 percent since Friday, over $855 billion in market value lost; $99 billion in investments and $25 billion in commitments as of end of second quarter; CoreWeave down about 12 percent premarket, Nebius down 20 percent, IREN down 8 percent; affair admission reported)
• Inc., Nvidia's Jensen Huang, the Most Important CEO in Tech, Just Resigned, November 12, 2026 (secondary source: quotes Nvidia's announcement on the resignation, Kress as interim CEO and the search for a permanent successor)
• XTB, Nvidia shares fall nearly 10% after Jensen Huang resigns, November 12, 2026 (secondary source: shares down nearly 10 percent pre-market near $156; Kress interim CEO; Jones first-ever chair; results scheduled November 17)
• CoinDesk, Bitcoin slips with tech stocks as Nvidia CEO turmoil and ETF outflows weigh, November 12, 2026 (secondary source: Bitcoin ($BTC) near $73,400, down 0.7 percent since midnight UTC; Ether ($ETH) near $2,044; U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs lost $299.9 million on Wednesday, fifth straight day, about $1.44 billion since November 5)
• Finnhub, Bitcoin (BTC): Financial Market Data, November 12, 2026 (secondary source: Binance BTC/USDT $72,199.68 at 14:36:51 UTC, day open $73,446.25, intraday low $71,762, down 1.7 percent)

This article is news reporting and is not investment advice.