Nvidia chief Jensen Huang steps down as Kress takes interim role
Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang has stepped down, ending his run at the head of the chipmaker behind the AI boom. Finance chief Colette Kress will take over as interim chief executive while the company searches for a permanent successor, Nvidia said on Thursday.
The company also named Harvey Jones, a former Synopsys chief executive and long-serving board member, as its first-ever board chairman. Huang, who co-founded Nvidia and holds about 3.61% of the company, will also leave the board, Reuters reported.
Nvidia shares fell more than 10% in premarket trading on Thursday, putting the company's market value on course to drop below $4 trillion. It had already lost about $300 billion since the board announced an investigation on Sunday.
Pressure built over reports of two affairs
Pressure had mounted after reports of two extramarital affairs. The Wall Street Journal reported that he had a relationship with Alice Huang, a businesswoman US authorities say was a Chinese intelligence asset, while the New York Times reported an affair with Kimberly Powell, a Nvidia vice-president who reported to him. Beijing has denied that Alice Huang is a spy.
The board met on Wednesday to consider his future, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. Earlier this month the board opened a probe into whether Huang had been targeted by a foreign intelligence operation.
Succession and results in focus
Kress has been Nvidia's chief financial officer since September 2013. Nvidia still plans to report third-quarter results on 17 November, when investors will test whether demand for its AI chips remains strong.
The exit also raises questions for US chip export policy, given Huang's push to preserve access to the Chinese market and his close ties with President Donald Trump.
