Jensen Huang resigns as Nvidia CEO; CFO Colette Kress named interim chief

Jensen Huang has resigned as president and chief executive of Nvidia and as a member of its board, effective immediately, the company's board announced Thursday. He co-founded the chipmaker 33 years ago.

Colette Kress, Nvidia's executive vice president and chief financial officer, will serve as interim CEO while keeping her CFO duties until a permanent successor is named, the company said. The board is starting a search and will consider internal and external candidates. Kress joined Nvidia in September 2013 after nearly 25 years in finance roles at companies including Cisco and Microsoft.

The board also named Harvey C. Jones, a former CEO and executive chairman of Synopsys, as its first-ever chair. Jones joined Nvidia's board in 1993, CNBC reported.

"The Board has full confidence in Colette and the leadership team, and we expect the company's operations, customer commitments and product roadmap to continue without interruption," Jones said in the statement. Kress said she is "committed to building on the extraordinary foundation Jensen created." The board said Huang's contributions "are profound" and thanked him. Huang was not quoted in the release, and the statement did not mention the scandal surrounding him.

In a regulatory filing, Nvidia said its board accepted Huang's resignation Wednesday, TechCrunch reported. Nvidia shares were down more than 11% in premarket trading Thursday, TechCrunch said.

Huang, 63, resigned after his extramarital affair raised national security concerns, The Associated Press reported. On Sunday he told employees he had been unfaithful to his wife, following reports that he had an affair with Alice Huang, a businesswoman who has worked for Megaspeed, a Chinese company and Nvidia customer, and whom U.S. intelligence officials believe is a Chinese spy. Huang has denied compromising national security or Nvidia secrets, CNBC reported. The board had hired the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to conduct an independent investigation, The Guardian reported.

Late Wednesday, The New York Times reported that Huang also had a relationship with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia's vice president of health care, who reports to him. Minutes later, The Wall Street Journal reported that the board was preparing to oust him. The board met that night to discuss his future, according to Reuters and The Washington Post.

Huang also faced pressure from Congress. House Republican committee chairs Reps. John Moolenaar, Brian Mast and Rick Crawford had asked him to attend a closed-door briefing Nov. 18 and to reply by Wednesday. Mast said this week the committees were prepared to subpoena Huang if he did not respond.

Nvidia said it will still report third-quarter results Nov. 17, as scheduled, at about 1:20 p.m. PT, followed by an earnings call at 2 p.m. PT.

Serious Business has previously reported on the Times account of the Powell relationship, the Journal report that the board was preparing to oust Huang and the board investigation and congressional scrutiny.