Jensen Huang resigns as Nvidia CEO after espionage scandal and $1.4 trillion market hit

Jensen Huang resigned as Nvidia CEO, president, and board member effective immediately, according to a statement on November 12, 2026. CFO Colette Kress is taking over on an interim basis while the board searches for a permanent successor. Harvey C. Jones will serve as the first independent board chair, with business operations said to be continuing without disruption.

The resignation followed reporting that Nvidia’s board was preparing to fire Huang after revelations about two extramarital affairs, including one involving a suspected Chinese spy. Since an October 29 report about possible ties to Chinese intelligence, Nvidia has shed roughly $1.4 trillion in market value. The size of the decline makes the leadership transition a high-stakes moment for investors and customers alike.

Replacing Huang may be difficult because Nvidia was built heavily around his leadership. The report says he secured Nvidia’s market position through alliances with financiers and roughly $300 billion in guarantees for smaller customers. His departure could test whether that structure holds without the executive who built and managed it.

Major customers including Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet, along with AI labs such as OpenAI and Anthropic, depend heavily on Nvidia’s chips. At the same time, Nvidia’s 75 percent profit margin is pushing some customers to develop cheaper alternatives of their own. Huang also left no clear succession plan, with more than 60 employees reporting directly to him, leaving internal and external candidates to begin from a weakened position.