NVIDIA’s embattled CEO resigns amidst allegations of a second affair

The company’s CFO, Colette Kress, will serve as interim CEO as it searches for a permanent replacement.

Key Highlights

  • Colette Kress will remain NVIDIA’s CFO while serving as interim CEO.
  • The board has begun a search for a permanent successor and will consider internal and external candidates.
  • Kress joined NVIDIA in 2013 after finance roles at Cisco and Microsoft.
  • Huang’s resignation follows media reports alleging relationships with NVIDIA executives.
  • NVIDIA is scheduled to report its third-quarter fiscal 2027 results on November 17.

NVIDIA’s President and CEO Jensen Huang has resigned from the company on Thursday following the emergence of allegations that he was involved in a second extramarital affair.

Taking Huang’s place will be NVIDIA’s CFO Colette Kress, who will continue in her current role while serving as Interim CEO until a permanent successor is named.

Kress has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of NVIDIA since joining the company in September 2013. During her tenure, she has led the company’s finance organization and has played a key role in NVIDIA’s growth and evolution. Before joining NVIDIA, Kress spent nearly 25 years in finance roles at leading technology companies, including 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,” said Harvey Jones, Chair of the NVIDIA Board of Directors, in a release. “She is supported by an experienced leadership team that has been instrumental in executing NVIDIA’s strategy and advancing its technology roadmap.”

While Kress has been hailed by analysts quoted in a Reuters report as a hand to steer the NVIDIA ship with her financial background, she does not have the long-term vision to advance the company forward.

Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at investment platform Wealth Club, noted that Kress "has currently been brought into steady leadership, but she lacks global status."

"She's unlikely to be able to forge such deep commercial ties, and Nvidia will now enter this period of uncertainty over strategic priorities, pricing, and supply agreements."

The company’s board has begun a search for a permanent CEO and will consider internal and external candidates.

Huang’s departure follows a report from The New York Times on Wednesday that he was allegedly involved in a second extramarital affair.

A separate Wall Street Journal report said the board met Wednesday night to determine whether to fire the CEO.

He was already being investigated for an affair with Alice Huang, an alleged Chinese spy. Huang admitted the affair in a memo to employees. "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," Huang wrote.

The New York Times report revealed that Huang, whose relationship with a woman alleged to be a Chinese spy has embroiled the company in scandal this week, also had a relationship with Nvidia executive Kimberly Powell. The Times report says that Huang and Powell were seen being affectionate at a hotel during a company conference in March.

NVIDIA will report its third-quarter fiscal 2027 financial results on Tuesday, November 17.

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About the Author

Sean Buckley

Sean Buckley

Sean is the Editor-in-Chief of Lightwave. He establishes and executes Lightwave's editorial strategy across its website, email newsletters, events, and other information products. Before coming to Lightwave in July 2023, he served as editor of Broadband Communities. Earlier, he served as senior editor of FierceTelecom and the editor of the former Telecommunications Magazine. He got his start in the optical industry in 1998 when he became the editor of enterprise and optical networks at Information Gatekeepers. He has a BA in English from the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and lives in Dracut, Mass, with his wife, two sons, and his cat, Dove. 

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