Nvidia has handed its chief financial officer the chief executive’s job without taking away her old one. Colette Kress will lead the chip company on an interim basis after Jensen Huang’s resignation, while continuing to run its finances. Her first scheduled earnings report in both roles arrives Tuesday.
The board accepted Huang’s resignation as president, chief executive and director on November 11, according to Nvidia’s securities filing. The company announced the change a day later.
The allegations span relationships, Chinese espionage and diverted chips. Nvidia designs chips used to train and run artificial intelligence, making access to its products commercially valuable and politically sensitive.
Huang acknowledged infidelity in a November 8 message to employees and supported an independent inquiry. The Wall Street Journal has reported a relationship with Alice Huang, a former executive of Singapore-based Megaspeed, and a second affair with a senior Nvidia employee. The employee message did not identify his partner.
U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said on November 12 that the Justice Department had not concluded whether Alice Huang was a Chinese spy, Reuters reported. He said the FBI was investigating. Beijing has denied the spying allegation.
Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs supplied a separate account. It said its investigation concerned possible false declarations involving servers and that Alice Huang was not investigated for espionage. Police and prosecutors concluded in February that there was insufficient evidence to establish the declaration-related offences against her. Police nevertheless warned her for knowingly giving inaccurate information about her role in Megaspeed and barred her from returning. Investigations into the company and six other people continue.
Nvidia’s own board said on November 8 that it then had no reason to believe company secrets or national security had been compromised. Its independent directors subsequently named Joon Kim and Wachtell Lipton to conduct their review. A shareholder’s November 9 securities complaint also alleges misleading statements about the Megaspeed relationship.
Nvidia closed at $162.85 on November 13, compared with $186.64 on November 6, a decline of about 12.7 percent. The Friday closing price is separate from the lower price quoted after hours.
Multiplying the $23.79 price drop by the 24.1 billion shares Nvidia reported outstanding as of August 21 produces an estimated $573 billion reduction in market value over that week. Changes in that share count would change the valuation estimate. It measures investors’ valuation of the shares; it does not describe cash leaving Nvidia’s accounts or isolate the scandal’s effect from other market news.
The board has also appointed its first chair, Harvey Jones, a director since 1993. Nvidia already had independent directors; the new title does not establish that outside oversight previously did not exist. It gives the leadership transition a named board counterpart while the search considers internal and external chief executive candidates.
Jones said the board had confidence in Kress and expected customer commitments and the product roadmap to continue without interruption. She has been Nvidia’s finance chief since 2013. Keeping her in that post provides continuity, while also placing operational leadership and the financial reporting timetable with the same executive during the transition.
Nvidia says its fiscal 2027 third-quarter results will arrive November 17 at about 1:20 p.m. Pacific, followed by the earnings call at 2 p.m. Investors will then hear from the executive responsible for both running the company and explaining its numbers, while the board’s search and independent inquiry remain unfinished.
