The man who co-founded Nvidia in 1993 and has been the face of every GeForce generation has resigned as president, CEO and board member, effective immediately. Nvidia announced it Thursday morning, a day after the WSJ reported the board was preparing to oust him over two extramarital affairs, one with a suspected Chinese spy. Here's what changes and what PC gamers should watch next.
It’s over. Jensen Huang, the leather-jacket CEO who co-founded Nvidia in 1993 and stood on stage for every GeForce launch from the early days to the RTX 50 series, has resigned as Nvidia’s president, CEO and board member, effective immediately. Reuters reported it Thursday morning, and Nvidia’s own press release confirms it. An SEC filing says the board accepted the resignation on November 11. Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress is now interim CEO, and she will keep the CFO job.
This is the move we told you the board was preparing on Wednesday, and it came fast. As recently as Monday, analysts and even President Trump expected Huang to survive reports of a relationship with Alice Huang (no relation), a Megaspeed executive that The New York Times reported is suspected of passing information to China’s Ministry of State Security. Huang admitted in a memo to employees that he had been “unfaithful” to his wife. What changed everything was Wednesday’s second report: The New York Times, citing five people who worked at Nvidia, said Huang also had a relationship with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s VP of healthcare, who reported to him. By that night the board was meeting, and by Thursday morning he was gone. Bloomberg describes it plainly as an ouster.
Update Nov 12, 3:30 PM ET: Two people familiar with the matter told Reuters that Huang also had an intimate relationship with a second Nvidia employee. Reuters is not naming her, and Nvidia declined to comment. Reuters presents this as separate from the two other relationships already in the public record, with Alice Huang and Kimberly Powell, which would make three women in all.
Who’s running Nvidia now
Kress has been Nvidia’s CFO for more than a decade and was the name Bloomberg said was favored as the board met. She’s quoted in Nvidia’s release: “NVIDIA’s strength has always come from its people, and together with our leadership team, I am committed to building on the extraordinary foundation Jensen created over the last 33 years.” There’s no quote from Huang in the release.
Nvidia is also changing how it’s run. Former Synopsys CEO Harvey C. Jones becomes the first board chair in Nvidia’s history, and the board says it “is initiating a search for a permanent Chief Executive Officer and will consider internal and external candidates.” Reports already have Apple hardware chief Johny Srouji near the top of that list, The Verge reported, citing Semafor. Nvidia shares fell in premarket trading, according to Bloomberg.
The fallout is just getting started
Update Nov 12, 3:00 PM ET: Huang leaving doesn’t close the book for Nvidia. Multiple US Justice Department probes threaten to sweep up the company, two administration officials told Semafor. One is an antitrust inquiry focused on Nvidia itself, while two others target Megaspeed and Supermicro, and both of those have focused on Alice Huang’s involvement. Semafor adds that there’s no indication the DOJ would seek criminal charges against Nvidia or Huang at this time. Supermicro told Semafor that “Megaspeed is not, and has never been, a Supermicro customer” and that it has fully cooperated with authorities.
Investors are coming too. A shareholder filed a derivative lawsuit on Wednesday in federal court in Northern California, accusing him and the board of concealing his relationship with Alice Huang, Bloomberg Law reported. A separate proposed class action filed Monday in San Jose covers investors who bought Nvidia securities between October 9, 2025, and November 8, 2026, according to the complaint, as reported by TechCrunch. November 8 is the day the board announced its investigation.
Jensen's out at Nvidia. What happens to GeForce now?
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Circle two dates. Nvidia reports third quarter results on November 17, and three House committee chairs had asked Huang to sit for a closed-door session with lawmakers on November 18, according to Fortune. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Jim Banks have also called for Nvidia to answer questions. That earnings call will be the first time Kress faces Wall Street as interim CEO, and it’s the first real read on whether all of this is touching the business.
Original article
Why PC gamers should care
Huang didn’t just run Nvidia. For gamers, he was Nvidia: the keynotes, the DLSS reveals, the “it just works” ray tracing pitch, the price announcements that set the whole GPU market. Kress is a finance chief, not a product showman, and the company’s money is overwhelmingly in AI data centers, not GeForce. That’s the real worry for PC players. When a company in turmoil is protecting its stock price, the gaming division is the easiest place to stay quiet, delay, or squeeze margins.
Our read: nothing about your RTX card or your DLSS updates changes today. The engineers who build GeForce drivers and DLSS models didn’t go anywhere. But the next big GeForce moment, whether that’s new cards, a DLSS update or a pricing call, will be the first one in Nvidia’s history without Jensen selling it. Whoever lands the permanent job, gamers should judge them on one thing: do they still treat GeForce like the business that built Nvidia, or like a side project next to AI chips? AMD and Intel are paying attention, and PC gamers should too.
Image: Nvidia
Sources
- Nvidia Newsroom (November 12, 2026): NVIDIA Announces CEO Transition
- Nvidia Investor Relations (November 12, 2026): NVIDIA Announces CEO Transition
- SEC Form 8-K (filed November 12, 2026; event date November 11, 2026): Board accepted Huang’s resignation and appointed Kress interim CEO
- Reuters on X (November 12, 2026): Jensen Huang has resigned as president, CEO and board member of Nvidia
- Reuters live coverage (November 12, 2026)
- Reuters via CNA (November 12, 2026): Former Nvidia CEO Huang had a relationship with a second employee, sources say
- The Verge (November 12, 2026): Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang resigns amid spy, affair scandals
- Bloomberg on X (November 12, 2026): Huang ousted, Kress named interim CEO; shares fell in premarket trading
- OnPoint 4 Gamers: Nvidia’s Board Is Preparing to Oust Jensen Huang
- Semafor (November 12, 2026): US DOJ probes Nvidia
- Bloomberg Law (November 12, 2026): Nvidia Shareholder Sues Board, Ex-CEO Huang Over Affair News
- TechCrunch (November 9, 2026): The race is on to sue Nvidia, on the proposed class action and its October 9, 2025 to November 8, 2026 class period
- Al Arabiya (November 12, 2026): Could Huang, Nvidia and company’s board be held liable over affair scandal?
- Fortune (November 10, 2026): 2 scandals, 1 destination: Why Nvidia can’t shake China smuggling allegations
