Investigation, liaison and suspicions of espionage: the brutal fall of Jensen Huang, the historic boss of Nvidia leaves the company!

Jensen Huang resigned on November 12, 2026 from his position as CEO of Nvidia, the company he co-founded in 1993. His financial director, Colette Kress, takes over as interim, after a week marked by an internal investigation and the admission of an extramarital affair.

Nvidia announced on November 12, 2026 that Jensen Huang had “resigned as President, Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors, effective immediately.” Colette Kress, Nvidia's CFO since September 2013, becomes interim CEO and retains her financial role. The board of directors has launched the search for a permanent successor, among internal and external candidates. He also named a board chairman for the first time, Harvey C. Jones, former CEO of Synopsys. The statement gave no reason for Jensen Huang’s departure, and the board “thanks Jensen for his invaluable contributions to the company and the industry.”

The departure comes four days after the opening of an internal investigation. On Sunday, November 8, Nvidia's board of directors announced an "independent investigation" after press reports that Jensen Huang was the target of "a foreign intelligence operation." The council then specified that it had “no reason to believe” that national security or Nvidia secrets had been compromised, and assured that it had “confidence in Jensen”. On November 10, the independent administrators assigned the investigation to Joon H. Kim, former acting federal prosecutor in Manhattan, and the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.

The same November 8, Jensen Huang sent a message to Nvidia employees, published on the group's website. “I was unfaithful to my wife. My actions hurt her and our children. Nothing excuses what I did. I am deeply sorry,” he wrote, promising to “cooperate fully” with the investigation.

According to The Information, the woman with whom he allegedly had this relationship worked for a company suspected of facilitating approximately $7.5 billion in chip sales to China. Beijing has denied that Jensen Huang was targeted by a spying operation, according to Bloomberg. On November 11, the New York Times reported a second relationship, with an Nvidia executive, then the Wall Street Journal wrote that the board was preparing to oust its CEO. Three Republican elected officials from the House of Representatives, including Brian Mast, also requested a closed-door briefing on the matter.

Nvidia stock fell significantly during the week. On the morning of November 12, it fell to $156.20, its lowest level since July 2025, compared to a record of $239.24 on October 6. According to Yahoo Finance, Nvidia has lost more than $600 billion in capitalization since November 5, and around $2,000 billion since its record. On November 11, Bernstein lowered its recommendation and reduced its price target from $400 to $200.

Jensen Huang co-founded Nvidia in 1993 with Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem, and has been its sole CEO since. Under his leadership, graphics card maker GeForce became the world's leading supplier of chips for artificial intelligence. In June 2025, he came to VivaTech in Paris to announce with Mistral AI the construction of a calculation platform for AI in France. Nvidia will report its third quarter results as scheduled on Tuesday, November 17, with an analyst conference at 11 p.m. Paris time.

Machine-translated from French