Update, Nov. 12, 2026: Nvidia says Jensen Huang has resigned
Nvidia's board announced on Nov. 12 that Huang has resigned. In a press release, the company said: "NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) Board of Directors announced today that Jensen Huang has resigned as President, Chief Executive Officer, and a member of the Board, effective immediately."
The release says Colette Kress, Nvidia's Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, "has agreed to serve as Interim Chief Executive Officer." It also says: "The Board is initiating a search for a permanent Chief Executive Officer and will consider internal and external candidates." The board appointed Harvey C. Jones "as its first-ever Chair of the Board."
In a Form 8-K that the SEC filing index lists as accepted on Nov. 12, 2026, at 8:52:41 a.m. Eastern Time (5:52 a.m. PT), Nvidia said: "On November 11, 2026, the Board of Directors, or the Board, of NVIDIA Corporation accepted the resignation of Jen-Hsun Huang, as NVIDIA's President, Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board, effective immediately."
Neither the release nor the filing gives a reason for the resignation. The release says: "The Board and the company thank Jensen for his immeasurable contributions to the company and the industry."
Nvidia said it will still report third-quarter fiscal 2027 results on Tuesday, Nov. 17, at about 1:20 p.m. PT, with its earnings call at 2 p.m. PT. Our full story: Jensen Huang Resigns as Nvidia CEO; Kress Is Interim CEO.
For reactions from investors, prediction markets and Hacker News, see what people are saying about Huang's resignation.
Our profile of Colette Kress covers her career and what Nvidia's filings say about her pay and ownership.
The report below was published on Nov. 11, before Nvidia's announcement.
Reports on Wednesday, Nov. 11, said Nvidia's board of directors is preparing to remove Jensen Huang as chief executive. The reports rely on unnamed sources. When this article was written, Nvidia had not announced any change to its leadership, and Huang was still CEO. Nvidia and its board had not issued a public statement addressing the Wednesday reports.
CBS News reported: "Nvidia's board of directors is preparing to oust CEO Jensen Huang soon, according to two sources familiar with the matter, following allegations that Huang had an extramarital affair with a woman U.S. intelligence agencies believe was a Chinese asset." CBS News also wrote: "The Trump administration is aware of the matter, the sources said." CBS News said that The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the board's moves.
What the reports say
TechCrunch, citing the Wall Street Journal, reported that sources told the newspaper the Nvidia board is meeting as soon as Wednesday to determine Huang's future at the company. TechCrunch notes that Huang, a co-founder, has led Nvidia for the last 33 years.
TechCrunch also reported that, according to Bloomberg, Nvidia is working with an outside firm to identify candidates that could potentially replace Huang as CEO.
None of these reports says the board has voted. The reports describe preparation and a meeting, not a final decision.
What Nvidia has said
The Wednesday CBS News report and the TechCrunch account of the Wall Street Journal story do not include a comment from Nvidia on the reported plan to remove Huang. As of this writing, we found no newsroom statement addressing those reports. NBC News reported that Nvidia did not respond to requests for comment.
On Sunday, Nov. 8, Nvidia's board opened an investigation and said it had confidence in Huang and his leadership team. On Nov. 10, the independent members of the board said they had retained former acting U.S. Attorney of the Southern District of New York Joon H. Kim and his firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz "to conduct a thorough and independent investigation as was announced on Sunday." That statement did not address Huang's future as CEO.
In a CBS News report published Monday, Nov. 9, after the probe was announced and before the Wednesday reports, an Nvidia spokesperson was quoted as saying that "Jensen is committed to continuing to lead Nvidia as CEO without interruption." We will update this post if Nvidia comments on the Wednesday reports.
How the stock reacted
CBS News reported that Nvidia's share price slid more than 8% in after-hours trading Wednesday after the Journal's report, "extending a multi-day sell-off for one of the world's most valuable publicly traded companies." TechCrunch put the after-hours drop at about 8% and said the stock is down about 11% in the past five days. These are after-hours moves reported on Wednesday evening, and prices can change when regular trading opens.
Our earlier post covers how Nvidia stock fell after the board opened its probe on Monday, Nov. 9.
How we got here
On Sunday, Nov. 8, Nvidia's board opened an investigation. CBS News reported that the board said it had launched an independent investigation into allegations that the CEO "has been the target of a foreign intelligence effort." The board said it had no reason to believe the company's secrets or national security were compromised. Nvidia spokesperson John Rizzo said, "We trust that if we were the target of a genuine threat, the U.S. government would have notified us." Our first report has the details of the board's probe into the spy reports.
According to CBS News, the New York Times reported last week on allegations that Huang had a close relationship with Alice Huang, who previously led a Singapore-based firm called Megaspeed International that bought billions of dollars worth of Nvidia chips and hardware. CBS News wrote, citing the Times, that U.S. intelligence agencies have believed for months that Alice Huang, who is not related to Jensen Huang, was recruited by China's Ministry of State Security.
CBS News reported that in a message to Nvidia employees over the weekend, Huang wrote that he was "unfaithful to my wife" and apologized for hurting her and their children. He did not name the woman involved.
Other parties deny wrongdoing. CBS News reported that Megaspeed has denied any involvement in illegal chip transfers. China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Guo Jiakun told reporters on Monday that the "so-called Chinese spy narrative is entirely baseless and constitutes slander and smear," as quoted by CBS News.
CBS News also reported, citing two law enforcement sources, that the Justice Department is investigating Megaspeed over potential violations of U.S. export restrictions on advanced AI chips. CBS News separately reported that Nvidia is facing a securities lawsuit accusing the company of failing to disclose information to shareholders about Huang's relationship with the alleged spy. The reports we reviewed describe allegations and investigations. They do not report criminal charges against Huang or Nvidia.
The succession question
TechCrunch wrote that Huang famously delegates very little and has about 60 direct reports, he has said. It added that the company also has not had an obvious successor or a succession plan.
Axios made the same point on Nov. 9. It reported that the highest-profile member of Huang's executive team is Colette Kress, Nvidia's chief financial officer, who appears alongside him during the company's earnings calls. Axios added that analysts say Kress "isn't necessarily a natural successor to Huang in his role as an innovator and visionary for the AI age."
Axios quoted Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a professor at the Yale School of Management: "It's ridiculous that they have nobody in management identified." Axios also wrote that Nvidia reps had no immediate comment.
Why it matters for AI
Nvidia designs the chips that run much of today's AI. CBS News wrote that the company "now designs the powerful semiconductors that fuel many of the world's leading AI firms, making its technology highly sensitive and subject to export controls limiting sales to China." Any change in who runs Nvidia would matter to the AI companies that rely on those chips.
What to watch
- An official statement from Nvidia or its board about Huang's role.
- The result of the board meeting that the Wall Street Journal reported, as cited by TechCrunch.
- Whether Nvidia names an interim or permanent CEO, after Bloomberg's report, as cited by TechCrunch, that an outside firm is searching for candidates.
- How the stock trades when regular trading opens on Thursday, Nov. 12.
We will update this post when Nvidia or its board comments on the Wednesday reports.
Sources
- CBS News: Nvidia's board preparing to oust CEO Jensen Huang, sources say
- CBS News: Nvidia's stock slides as questions swirl around Jensen Huang's future as CEO (Nov. 9, 2026)
- TechCrunch: Nvidia's stock drops as board reportedly preps to oust CEO Jensen Huang
- NBC News: Nvidia shares drop after hours amid reports of meeting over CEO Jensen Huang's future
- Axios: Nvidia has no obvious successor to Jensen Huang
- llms.blog: Nvidia Board Opens Probe Into Spy Reports About CEO
- llms.blog: Nvidia Stock Falls After Probe Into Spy Reports About CEO
- Nvidia Newsroom: Statement From NVIDIA Board of Directors (Nov. 8, 2026)
- Nvidia Newsroom: Statement From the Independent Members of the NVIDIA Board (Nov. 10, 2026)
