Nvidia's new boss is also its old finance chief: Colette Kress is now running one of the world's most closely watched chipmakers while still doing her day job as CFO. On Nov. 12, 2026, Nvidia said founder Jensen Huang had resigned and that CFO Colette Kress would step in as interim chief executive while the board looks for a permanent successor. Here is who Colette Kress is, what Nvidia says will stay the same, what could genuinely change for customers and gamers, and the dates that will show how steady the company really is.
Key Takeaways
- Nvidia announced on Nov. 12, 2026 that Jensen Huang resigned as president, CEO and board member, effective immediately.
- CFO Colette Kress is interim CEO and keeps her finance job. Board member Harvey C. Jones becomes Nvidia's first-ever board chair.
- Nvidia says it expects operations, customer commitments and the product roadmap to continue "without interruption."
- The board is searching for a permanent CEO and will consider internal and external candidates. No successor has been named.
- First tests: Nvidia's quarterly results on Nov. 17 and an all-employee meeting on Nov. 18.
What Nvidia Actually Announced on Nov. 12
The facts come from Nvidia's own newsroom release. The board said Huang resigned as president, chief executive officer and a member of the board, effective immediately. Kress, an executive vice president and the company's chief financial officer, "has agreed to serve as Interim Chief Executive Officer" and will remain CFO until a permanent successor is named. The board says it is starting a search that will weigh both internal and external candidates.
The release also created a role Nvidia has never had. Harvey C. Jones was appointed the company's first-ever chair of the board. TechCrunch reports that Jones, a former Synopsys CEO, has been on Nvidia's board since 1993.
Nvidia gave no reason in the release. Euronews noted that the company "did not give a reason" for the departure, and reporting on the background is covered in a short, careful section below. First, the person at the center of this story.
She has been a fixture on Nvidia's earnings calls for years. Her résumé explains why the board reached for her.
Colette Kress Interim CEO: The Résumé Behind the Job
According to her Nvidia biography, Kress joined the company in September 2013 after nearly 25 years in finance roles at major technology companies. She spent three years as senior vice president and CFO of Cisco's Business Technology and Operations Finance organization. Before that came 13 years at Microsoft, including four as CFO of the Server and Tools division, and earlier finance positions at Texas Instruments. She holds a finance degree from the University of Arizona and an MBA from Southern Methodist University.
Her public profile is easy to spot if you follow Nvidia at all. CNBC notes she has been "the other big voice on earnings calls," reporting results and taking questions beside Huang. CNBC also reported that Fortune recognized her in May as one of its most powerful women in business.
How people who know her describe the role
CNBC quoted Dan Ives, an analyst at Yorkville Ives & Co., saying Kress is "more than just a CFO" and that he views her "as more of a COO." The same story said CNBC spoke with nearly a dozen Nvidia insiders and former co-workers who described her as savvy, knowledgeable, thoughtful and clear-headed. NBC News quoted former Cisco chief John Chambers, who worked with her there: "I know she understands what it takes to lead through major market transitions, build strong teams, and execute at scale."
Those are opinions. The structural fact is simpler: Nvidia is leaning on a 13-year insider rather than a surprise outsider.
What the Board and Kress Said to Employees
CNBC obtained the emails that Jones and Kress sent to staff on Thursday. Jones called Kress "a key architect of NVIDIA's growth and capital strategy" and wrote that the board has "full confidence" in her to deliver on commitments to shareholders, customers, partners and employees. Kress acknowledged "an extraordinarily difficult period," thanked employees for their "resilience, professionalism and continued dedication," and said leadership would share more in the coming days. A company meeting is set for Nov. 18 at 9 a.m. PT, according to CNBC's report on the emails.
Notice what the messages leave out: any new strategy, reorganization or product change. They are continuity messages.
That calendar is short. The first date lands in just four days.
The Dates That Will Show How Steady Nvidia Is
- Nov. 17: Nvidia reports third-quarter fiscal 2027 results at about 1:20 p.m. PT, with a call at 2 p.m. PT. The company said the schedule is unchanged. NBC News reports Kress is expected to lead the call, five days after taking the role.
- Nov. 18: the all-employee company meeting at 9 a.m. PT.
- Next weeks and months: any named CEO candidate, any change to board membership, and any word on the independent investigation the board has promised.
On Nov. 17 Kress will do something familiar, presenting the numbers, from a very different seat. Her answers will be the first real signal of how Nvidia plans to operate without its founder.
What the Reported Allegations Are, Briefly and Carefully
Because readers will see the headlines, here is a short, factual summary attributed to the outlets that reported it. This post does not speculate beyond what they have published.
- In a message to staff, Huang wrote, "I was unfaithful to my wife," and said he supported the board's investigation and would "cooperate fully," as quoted by Euronews.
- Euronews reports US intelligence reportedly circulated a memo alleging that the other person, an executive at Singapore-based data center company Megaspeed, was an operative for China's Ministry of State Security. China has rejected the allegations, with a foreign ministry spokesperson calling the report "groundless speculation."
- Euronews also reports Nvidia's board said it had "no reason to believe" national security or Nvidia's secrets were compromised and that an independent investigation would be carried out. It adds that The New York Times reported a second relationship, and that shareholders have filed a class action lawsuit.
- NBC News reports that lawmakers say Huang agreed to brief Congress.
These are allegations and reports, not findings. The investigation Nvidia described is still ahead, so treat any claim beyond the above, especially on social media, with caution.
What the Colette Kress Interim CEO Era Means for Customers and the AI Chip Race
For companies that buy Nvidia hardware, the company's stated position is that nothing changes on delivery. Jones said the board expects "operations, customer commitments and product roadmap to continue without interruption," and he pointed to "an experienced leadership team." That matters because Nvidia's chips sit at the base of the AI boom. As TechCrunch put it, Huang's departure raises questions for the AI and data center industries because Nvidia has been so active in the market.
The financial web around Nvidia
TechCrunch's reporting shows how wide that web is. At the end of its second quarter, Nvidia reported $99 billion in investments and another $25 billion in commitments, plus $36 billion in cloud service commitments. TechCrunch lists examples including $2 billion each in CoreWeave and Nebius, $30 billion in OpenAI and $10 billion in Anthropic. Those relationships involved the finance chief, and NBC News reports Kress "has been instrumental in managing financial relationships," which helps explain why the board turned to her.
The other pressure point is China. TechCrunch reports Chinese customers accounted for about $7.9 billion of second-quarter revenue, roughly 8% of the total, even after strict export controls. This post takes no position on policy, but the topic will matter for any new leader. For a related look at how AI companies are funding their spending push, see our breakdown of Meta's $95 billion AI raise.
Why a founder's exit can still ripple
CNBC reported that Huang ran Nvidia with no clear second-in-command and personally set priorities. TechCrunch adds that he owns only about 3.5% of the company and holds no supervoting rights, so the board always had the power to remove him. A founder who made so many decisions personally leaves a gap that one interim executive, even a capable one, will have to fill with a team.
The AI race is also bigger than one company. Other firms are pushing AI into search, phones and devices, as in Apple's plan for Apple Intelligence in China and Google's AI Mode ad economics. All of them rely on a steady supply of AI chips, which is why Nvidia's stability matters beyond its own employees.
One group of customers is watching more nervously than the rest: people who just want a graphics card.
Colette Kress Interim CEO and the Gamer Question
Nvidia began as a gaming company, and some commentators wonder whether a CEO change makes gaming less of a priority. TechSpot's analysis lays out the worry with numbers it attributes to Nvidia's reporting: gaming revenue hit a record $16 billion in the last fiscal year, but Nvidia has stopped reporting it separately. In the latest quarter, a combined "Edge Computing" group that includes gaming, workstations, robotics, cars and more brought in $7.2 billion, compared with $89 billion from data centers.
TechSpot also notes that Nvidia reportedly cut GeForce production by as much as 40% in the first half of the year as AI demand absorbed memory supply, that Kress herself warned supply limits would weigh on gaming, and that no new gaming GPUs were expected this year. Those trends predate the resignation. TechSpot's concern is a "slow fade" of fewer launches and longer gaps between generations, rather than a sale or shutdown, and it points out that consumer and data center GPUs share architectures, so much of the research carries over. It also notes Nvidia supplies the chip in Nintendo's Switch 2.
What can a shopper do today? Nothing in the announcement changes warranties or current products. If you are choosing hardware this season, buy based on what you need and what is on shelves, not on speculation about future launches. Our gamer gift guide for 2026 sticks to products that are available now.
How Nvidia's Search for a Permanent CEO Could Play Out
Nvidia says it will consider internal and external candidates and has named no one. According to TechSpot, citing Bloomberg, the company has hired an outside firm to find candidates. CNBC quoted analyst Dan Ives predicting Kress could serve about a year and that the permanent pick would likely come from outside the company, though he is one analyst, and the board has made no such commitment.
TechSpot says replacing Huang "won't be easy," given his mix of technical depth and tight operating control.
What to watch in the coming weeks
- How Kress frames strategy on the Nov. 17 call.
- Whether the board adds directors or announces a search timeline.
- Updates on the independent investigation and any congressional briefing.
- Whether product dates for data center and gaming chips stay on track.
FAQ: Colette Kress and Nvidia's CEO Change
Who is Nvidia's interim CEO?
Colette Kress, Nvidia's executive vice president and chief financial officer since September 2013, was named interim CEO on Nov. 12, 2026. She keeps her CFO duties until a permanent CEO is named.
Who is Nvidia's new board chair?
Harvey C. Jones, a former Synopsys CEO who has served on Nvidia's board since 1993, was appointed the company's first-ever chair of the board.
Did Nvidia say products or customer commitments will change?
No. Jones said the board expects operations, customer commitments and the product roadmap to continue without interruption. Watch the Nov. 17 earnings call for details.
Why did Jensen Huang resign?
Nvidia's release gave no reason. News outlets including Euronews, NBC News and CNBC linked the resignation to reports of extramarital relationships, one involving a person US intelligence reportedly suspected of working for China. China denies this, and an independent investigation is pending.
Will this affect GeForce graphics cards?
Nvidia has not announced any change to GeForce. TechSpot raises the longer-term question of how much attention consumer GPUs get. Nothing official has changed yet.
The Bottom Line and Sources
The facts are narrow and clear: Huang is out, Kress is interim CEO with her CFO role intact, Jones is the first board chair, and a permanent search is open. Everything else, including succession names, product timing and the investigation's outcome, is still unknown. This is a company news explainer, not financial advice.
Sources read for this article: Nvidia Newsroom, CNBC, TechCrunch, Euronews, NBC News and TechSpot.
Editor at Trend Ranker covering US trends, tech, travel and deals. We research from primary sources (official sites, press releases, data) and update posts when facts change. Editorial policy