Nvidia announced on November 12, 2026 that Jensen Huang had resigned as president, chief executive officer, and a member of the board, effective immediately. The move ends a 33 year run at the top of the company Huang co-founded in 1993 and built into the main supplier of chips for artificial intelligence. Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress now leads the company as interim CEO while the board searches for a permanent replacement, and Harvey C. Jones is its first chair. Nvidia gave no reason for the departure.
What Nvidia announced on November 12
Nvidia announced on November 12, 2026 that Jensen Huang resigned as president, chief executive officer, and a member of the board, effective immediately. Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress agreed to serve as interim CEO and will keep her finance role. The board also appointed Harvey C. Jones as its first chair.
The announcement came from the Nvidia board in Santa Clara, California, through the Nvidia newsroom and investor relations site. The statement was short and gave no reason for Huang’s departure. It said Kress will keep her finance role while she serves as interim CEO until a permanent successor is named.
Huang left all three of his roles at once: president, chief executive, and board member. That is a clean break from a company he led since its founding. A filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission recorded that the board accepted his resignation on November 11, one day before the public announcement.
Who is Colette Kress, Nvidia’s interim CEO
Colette Kress is Nvidia’s executive vice president and chief financial officer, and she has agreed to serve as interim CEO after Jensen Huang resigned. She has held the finance chief role since September 2013. She will keep both jobs while the board searches for a permanent chief executive.
Kress joined Nvidia in September 2013 and has led the finance organization during the company’s growth from graphics chips into accelerated computing and artificial intelligence. Before Nvidia, she spent nearly 25 years in finance roles at Cisco and Microsoft.
Her background is in finance, not chip design or engineering. That has led some investors to ask whether a finance chief is the right person to lead a chip company, even on a temporary basis. The board answered that question in its statement. Chair Harvey Jones said Kress “has a deep understanding of our business, customers, operations and financial position” and that she is backed by an experienced leadership team.
Kress spoke about continuity in her own statement. “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,” she said. “We will continue advancing the work that has made NVIDIA a leader in accelerated computing and AI, and execute on the opportunities ahead. Our focus remains on serving our customers, partners, developers and shareholders.”
Harvey Jones becomes Nvidia’s first board chair
Harvey C. Jones is now the first chair in Nvidia board history. The board appointed him to the new role on the same day it announced Jensen Huang’s resignation. Jones has been an entrepreneur, technology executive, and venture investor for more than 30 years, including time as chief executive officer and executive chairman of Synopsys.
The chair role is new for Nvidia. Until now, Huang had combined the chief executive job with board leadership, as founders often do. Creating a separate chair splits those duties. Jones now leads the board while Kress runs the company day to day.
Jones used his first statement as chair to back Kress and to calm customers and investors. “Colette has helped lead NVIDIA through a period of extraordinary growth and has a deep understanding of our business, customers, operations and financial position,” he said. “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.”
The board also thanked Huang in its announcement, calling his contributions profound and thanking him for his work for the company and the industry. After the resignation, Nvidia has 10 remaining directors on its board.
Why Jensen Huang resigned
Nvidia did not give a reason for Jensen Huang’s resignation in its November 12 announcement. The statement said only that he had resigned as president, chief executive officer, and a member of the board, effective immediately. Reports in the days before the announcement linked his departure to scrutiny of his personal conduct.
The Wall Street Journal reported on the evening of November 11 that Nvidia’s board was preparing to remove Huang. Other reports linked his departure to scrutiny of his personal conduct, but those reports are unconfirmed, and Nvidia has not confirmed any link between the reports and the resignation.
The board had opened an independent investigation on November 8 into the reports about Huang, according to TalkMarkets, and said it had no reason to believe the matter compromised company secrets or national security. The investigation was still open when the resignation was announced. The reports about the reasons for the departure remain reports, not confirmed facts.
How the board handled the transition
Nvidia’s board moved through the leadership change in less than a week, from the start of an independent investigation on November 8 to a public announcement on November 12. The board met on the evening of November 11 and accepted Huang’s resignation, according to the company’s filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
The sequence matters because the board’s public position changed fast. On Sunday, November 8, the board said it had confidence in Huang’s leadership. By Wednesday evening, the board had accepted his resignation. Nvidia has not explained what changed between those two points.
The board took three steps at once on November 12. It accepted the resignation, named Kress as interim CEO, and created a chair role for Jones. Doing all three in one announcement gave the company a clear chain of command on the same day the news broke. The board also started the search for a permanent chief executive right away, saying it will consider both internal and external candidates.
What the stock market did after the announcement
Nvidia shares fell sharply after the resignation was announced on November 12, then recovered much of the loss during the same session. The stock closed at $166.19, down 4.34 percent from the November 11 close of $173.73. Trading volume reached about 748 million shares, far above recent average levels.
The morning was rough. The stock opened at $151.01 and touched an intraday low of $148.80, down about 14 percent from the prior close and the lowest level since June 2025. Buyers stepped in and the shares climbed back by more than $15 from the low before the close. After hours, the stock edged higher to $167.82.
The fall left Nvidia well below its recent peak. The shares closed at an all time high of $239.24 on October 6, according to the Motley Fool, and sat about 35 percent below that record at the November 12 open.
The reaction spread beyond Nvidia. Rival chipmakers Broadcom, Intel, and Advanced Micro Devices rose on Thursday, the Associated Press reported, as some investors expected Nvidia customers to look at other suppliers. The shares rose 2.3 percent in premarket trading on Friday, November 13.
What changes for Nvidia’s business and product plans
Nothing in Nvidia’s announcement changes the company’s products, customers, or roadmap on paper. The board said it expects operations, customer commitments, and the product roadmap to continue without interruption. Kress said the company will keep advancing the work that made it a leader in accelerated computing and AI.
That message is aimed at the customers who buy Nvidia chips in large numbers. Cloud providers and AI companies plan spending months ahead and need to know orders and deliveries will not slip. Nvidia’s chips sit at the center of the current wave of AI investment. Demand for AI models keeps growing, with new systems such as Google Gemini 4 Hydrogen and Claude Opus 4.5 driving orders for the hardware that trains and runs them.
The real question is whether a leadership change slows decisions inside the company. Huang was known for close control of product strategy and for long running relationships with customers and partners. Kress knows the company’s finances and operations from 13 years as chief financial officer, and she has the board’s public backing. But a permanent chief executive will set the long term direction, and that person has not been named yet.
What happens at the November 17 earnings report
Nvidia will report its third quarter fiscal 2027 results on Tuesday, November 17, as previously scheduled. Results are due at about 1:20 p.m. Pacific Time, followed by an earnings call at 2 p.m. Pacific Time. The quarter ended on October 25, 2026.
The report will be the first time Kress speaks to investors as interim CEO. They will listen for the numbers, revenue, profit, and guidance, and for what Kress and Jones say about the leadership search and the board’s investigation.
The announcement came on November 12, five days before the report. Kress has led the finance team through many earnings reports, so the numbers are familiar ground for her. The new part will be answering questions about leadership, and those answers will shape how investors judge the transition.
Who could become Nvidia’s permanent CEO
Nvidia has not named any candidates for the permanent chief executive job. The board said only that it is starting a search and will consider both internal and external candidates. No timetable has been given, and no names have been confirmed by the company.
One name has already surfaced in public. Al Jazeera reported that President Donald Trump has suggested former Apple chief executive Tim Cook as Huang’s successor. That is a suggestion, not a nomination, and Nvidia has said nothing about it.
The board’s choice will matter because the job is one of the largest in technology. Nvidia is the main supplier of chips for AI, and its chief executive will decide how the company invests and how it deals with export rules and competition. An internal candidate would know the company. An external candidate could bring a fresh view but would need time to learn the business.
For now, Kress holds both the interim chief executive role and the finance chief role. The board has not said whether she is a candidate for the permanent job.
What to watch next
The next date on the calendar is November 17, when Nvidia reports third quarter fiscal 2027 results at about 1:20 p.m. Pacific Time, followed by an earnings call at 2 p.m. Pacific Time. Kress will lead that call as interim CEO, and investors will judge the numbers and her answers about the leadership change.
After earnings, the focus shifts to the search for a permanent chief executive. The board has not set a timetable, and searches for a job of this size often take months. Watch for any announcement of a shortlist or an appointment.
The board’s independent investigation is another open item. It began on November 8 and was still open when the resignation was announced. Nvidia has not said when it will finish or whether it will publish any findings.
Finally, watch the stock. Nvidia shares closed at $166.19 on November 12, down 4.34 percent, after touching $148.80 in the morning. They rose 2.3 percent in premarket trading the next day. Whether the shares recover toward their October high of $239.24 will depend on earnings, the leadership search, and demand for AI chips. The OpenAI GPT-5.1 update and other AI releases this month show that demand for AI systems is still growing, and that demand is what Nvidia’s business rests on.
Frequently asked questions
Why did Jensen Huang resign as Nvidia CEO?
Nvidia did not give a reason in its November 12 announcement. The statement said only that Huang had resigned as president, chief executive officer, and a member of the board, effective immediately. Reports before the announcement linked his departure to scrutiny of his personal conduct, but Nvidia has not confirmed that link.
Who is Colette Kress?
Colette Kress is Nvidia’s executive vice president and chief financial officer, and she now serves as interim CEO as well. She has been Nvidia’s finance chief since September 2013. Before joining Nvidia, she spent nearly 25 years in finance roles at Cisco and Microsoft. She will keep her finance role while she leads the company.
Is Colette Kress the permanent CEO of Nvidia?
No. Kress is interim CEO only. Nvidia’s board has started a search for a permanent chief executive and says it will consider both internal and external candidates. Kress will serve until a permanent successor has been named, and the board has not given a timetable for the search.
What happened to Nvidia stock after the announcement?
Nvidia shares opened at $151.01 on November 12, fell to an intraday low of $148.80, and closed at $166.19, down 4.34 percent. Trading volume reached about 748 million shares. The shares rose 2.3 percent in premarket trading on Friday, November 13.
When will Nvidia report earnings?
Nvidia will report third quarter fiscal 2027 results on Tuesday, November 17, at about 1:20 p.m. Pacific Time, followed by an earnings call at 2 p.m. Pacific Time. The quarter ended on October 25, 2026.
Who is Harvey Jones?
Harvey C. Jones is the first chair in Nvidia board history, appointed on November 12, 2026. He has been an entrepreneur, technology executive, and venture investor for more than 30 years, including time as chief executive officer and executive chairman of Synopsys. He now leads the board while Colette Kress runs the company.
Did Nvidia give a reason for Huang’s resignation?
No. The company’s November 12 announcement gave no reason. It said Huang had resigned as president, chief executive officer, and a member of the board, effective immediately, and thanked him for his contributions.
