Jensen Huang resigns from Nvidia after reports of two affairs

Originally published on The Daily Flare.

Nvidia co-founder Jensen Huang resigned as president, CEO and board member on Thursday, November 12, at the company, following reports of two extramarital relationships.

Nvidia’s board said it accepted Huang’s resignation after a meeting late Wednesday, and that it took effect immediately. Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress will serve as interim CEO while continuing in her finance role. The board said it would search for a permanent chief executive and consider both internal and external candidates.

The company also appointed Harvey C. Jones as its first board chair. Jones, a managing partner at Square Wave Ventures and former Synopsys CEO, has served on Nvidia’s board since 1993, TechCrunch reported. Kress, who joined Nvidia in 2013 after working at Cisco and Microsoft, said in the company statement that she was committed to building on the foundation Huang created over 33 years.

“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. 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,” Kress said.

The first reported relationship involved Alice Huang, an executive at Singapore-based cloud provider Megaspeed, which is an Nvidia customer. The New York Times reported that US officials believe Alice Huang, who is not related to Jensen Huang, was an operative for China’s Ministry of State Security and sought information about advanced US AI chips. The Chinese government has rejected claims that she was a spy.

Megaspeed reportedly bought $4.8 billion in Nvidia chips over the past two years. The New York Times reported that the United States and Singapore had investigated the company over suspicions that it was illegally sharing chips with China, and that the Justice Department later took over the US investigation. The Verge reported that Huang had advocated selling advanced chips to China, raising questions about whether the reported relationship could have affected his position on sales and export controls.

Nvidia’s internal investigation into Huang’s relationship with Alice Huang was announced on November 8, WIRED reported. Huang acknowledged in a companywide email that he had been unfaithful and apologized to his family and Nvidia employees. He also pledged to cooperate with the investigation, according to WIRED.

A second relationship was reported by The New York Times on Wednesday, November 11. Citing five people who worked at Nvidia, the newspaper identified the woman as Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of healthcare, who reports directly to Huang. The report said the pair had been seen being affectionate at a hotel during a conference earlier in 2026. Nvidia, Huang and Powell had not confirmed the account in the reports published before his departure.

The reports came as Nvidia held a central position in the AI industry. Its chips are used to accelerate AI development, and demand for them has often exceeded supply, The Verge reported. The company’s investment portfolio was valued at about $99 billion and included AI firms ranging from frontier labs to cloud providers.

Huang had also become a prominent advocate for US chip sales to China, arguing that export restrictions could limit the market for American chips and encourage China to develop competing technology, WIRED reported. He had built a close relationship with President Donald Trump and pressed for policies favorable to Nvidia, including greater access to the Chinese market.

Nvidia shares fell about 8 percent in after-hours trading on Wednesday after reports that the board was preparing to discuss Huang’s future, TechCrunch reported. The stock was down 11 percent over the five days through Thursday, according to the same report. Huang co-founded Nvidia in 1993 with Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem.