Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang resigns in big blow to AI boom
NVDA•Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is stepping down, and CFO Colette Kress will serve as interim CEO while the company considers internal and external candidates for a permanent successor. Nvidia shares fell more than 12% in early trading, putting it on course to lose about $500 billion in market value.
1. Leadership change
Huang, Nvidia’s co-founder and a 3.61% shareholder, will also leave the board. The company named former Synopsys CEO and board member Harvey Jones as its first-ever board chair.
2. Market reaction and risks
The shares’ early decline dragged the broader market lower. Investors face uncertainty over leadership at the roughly $4 trillion company and the future of an AI ecosystem Huang helped build through investments in cloud providers, suppliers and major AI labs.
3. Scrutiny of Huang
The resignation follows scrutiny over reports of Huang’s relationships with a Chinese businesswoman whom U.S. authorities suspect of spying for Beijing and a senior Nvidia executive who reported to him. Nvidia’s board had launched a probe into whether Huang was targeted by a foreign intelligence operation; Beijing has denied the businesswoman is a spy.
