Jensen Huang quits Nvidia, the company he co-founded in 1993. The timeline, day by day

Jensen Huang resigned as Nvidia's president, chief executive and board member on 12 November, with immediate effect, the company said. He signed Nvidia's founding papers in April 1993 and had run it ever since. Nvidia's release gave no reason. CFO Colette Kress is now interim CEO, while the board searches for a permanent one.

The chain of events began with a New York Times report on 29 October about Huang's relationship with a woman described as a suspected Chinese intelligence asset. The Free Press Journal noted that the report rests on anonymous sources and that Nvidia and China have disputed its findings. No public evidence has shown that Huang passed on sensitive information.

Three Republican House committee chairs, Brian Mast, John Moolenaar and Rick Crawford, asked Huang for a closed-door briefing on 18 November, the day after Nvidia's results. They wrote that "recent reports raise significant national security concerns" and wanted to ask about Nvidia's protections against foreign espionage.

Huang wrote to Nvidia employees: "I was unfaithful to my wife." He said the board had started an independent investigation and that he would cooperate fully. He did not name the person. The board said it had no reason to believe national security or company secrets had been compromised.

Reuters, citing two people familiar with the matter, reported a relationship with a second Nvidia employee, Al Jazeera said. That person has not been named in the reports. Nvidia's board met that Wednesday night and had hired a law firm to investigate. Huang resigned the next day.

Kress, at Nvidia since 2013, stays on as CFO while she runs the company. Harvey C Jones, a former Synopsys CEO, became Nvidia's first-ever board chair. Nvidia shares closed 4.34% lower that day at $166.19, Yahoo Finance reported, and the company's market value fell below $4 trillion for the first time since July 2025.

Nvidia reports its quarterly results on 17 November, its first under Kress. The board says it will look at internal and external candidates for the CEO job. Huang's congressional briefing has been moved to 1 December, PC Gamer reported. The internal investigation's findings have not been made public.