Nvidia's board of directors approved Huang Jen-Hsun's resignation on November 12: he will step down from his three positions of president, CEO, and director, effective immediately. Thirty-three years have passed since he founded the company with two partners in 1993.
The interim CEO is Colette Kress. She joined Nvidia in 2013 and has been serving as chief financial officer, this time wearing both hats together until the board finds an official successor. Both internal and external candidates will be selected.
Another change is easily overlooked: Nvidia has not had an independent chairman of the board of directors in the past, but this time it has set up this position for the first time, and the candidate is Harvey Jones, the former CEO of Synopsys. A company that has been led by a founder for decades has had its governance structure improved overnight.
The cause was a personal dispute that began to ferment earlier this month. Jen-Hsun Huang issued a statement on November 8 admitting to the extramarital affair. Subsequently, media reports implicated company employees, and the matter escalated in a few days. The company statement quoted Kress and Jones, but not Huang himself.
For the market, the most practical question is whether supply and roadmap will change. The company's statement is that operations, customer commitments and product routes will not be interrupted, and the third-quarter financial report will be released on November 17 as usual. The earnings call will be Kress's first appearance as interim CEO.
The sound outside the court was also very lively. Trump named former Apple CEO Cook on social platforms to take over, and Musk said he was willing to ask Jen-Hsun Huang to join him. Mast, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said that Huang has agreed to testify before Thanksgiving before Congress, and the topic will fall on export controls.
Nvidia is the most critical seller in this round of AI infrastructure. The shovel is still there, but the person selling the shovel has changed. The rhythm of orders from major customers in the next few months is more telling than any comments.