Jensen Huang has resigned as president, chief executive officer and a member of Nvidia’s board of directors, effective immediately, the company announced on Thursday, November 12, ending his 33-year tenure at the chipmaker he co-founded in 1993 and built into an AI powerhouse.
Nvidia’s board confirmed the resignation in a statement on November 12 local time, according to South Korean outlet OSEN, without giving a specific reason for his departure. Chief financial officer Colette Kress will serve as interim chief executive while the board seeks a permanent successor, and Harvey C. Jones has been appointed the board’s first-ever chair.
The resignation caps a week of mounting controversy over Huang’s personal life. In late October, The New York Times reported on his close relationship with Alice Huang, a former managing director at Singapore-based data center company Megaspeed, whom U.S. intelligence officials reportedly suspect of links to Beijing. The alleged intelligence links have not been independently established, and Beijing has denied any involvement.
On November 8, Nvidia said its board had opened an independent investigation into reports that Huang may have been the target of a foreign intelligence operation. That same day, Huang admitted to employees that he had been unfaithful to his wife, Lori Huang. “I was unfaithful to my wife. My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did. I am deeply sorry,” he wrote, according to reports.
On Wednesday, November 11, The New York Times reported that Huang had a second extramarital relationship, this time with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of healthcare, citing five sources. Reuters reported that Nvidia’s board met on November 11 to decide Huang’s future.
Huang, 63, co-founded Nvidia in 1993 and turned it from a graphics-chip startup into the dominant supplier of the processors powering the AI boom. He had said he planned to stay at the helm at least another 20 years, with no succession plan prepared, according to Le Monde.
Nvidia shares fell more than 10 percent in premarket trading on Thursday following the announcement, and the company is scheduled to report its third-quarter results on November 17. Shareholders have also filed a class action lawsuit over the failure to disclose the relationship to investors, according to reports.
Kress will lead the company on an interim basis while keeping her chief financial officer role, and the board has begun its search for a permanent successor.
