Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Steps Down Amid Spy & Affair Probes

If you've been following the Nvidia story, you know it escalated fast. Just before 6 A.M. Pacific time on November 12, 2026, Nvidia's board announced that Jensen Huang had resigned as president, CEO, and board member, effective immediately. The co-founder, who had led the chipmaker since its start, is out.

The board named Colette Kress, the executive vice president and chief financial officer, as interim CEO. Colette Kress will keep her finance role while stepping in and will stay until a permanent successor is chosen. A search is underway, with internal and external candidates on the table.

Behind the abrupt exit were a foreign-spy probe and admissions of an affair.

The statement thanked Jensen Huang for what it called immeasurable contributions to the industry, but it gave no reason for his exit, and the investigation's findings haven't been released. The exit follows weeks of pressure.  Earlier, the board opened an independent investigation after reports that its founder was the target of a foreign intelligence effort, with a committee of independent directors and outside counsel overseeing it.

The board said US national and economic security came first, that it had no reason to believe security or company secrets were compromised, and that Jensen Huang supported the review. On November 10, the directors hired a former acting US attorney for the Southern District of New York and his law firm to lead the probe.

Before stepping down, Jensen Huang admitted to an affair with a woman suspected of being a Chinese spy, and in an email to staff, he apologized to his family and colleagues for being unfaithful to his wife. A second relationship has since been reported, this one with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia's vice president of healthcare, who reports to him.

Two people who worked at the company said Huang is 63 and Kimberly Powell is 48, and that both are married. Kimberly Powell and Huang were reportedly filmed being affectionate at a San Jose hotel during a company conference in March.

The spy allegation centers on Alice Huang, an executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed.

A May 2026 report documented Nvidia chips being routed through Singapore shell companies into China, and that's when Alice Huang drew attention, partly because she'd been photographed standing close to him. When reporters asked on October 29 about the relationship, Jensen Huang called their interactions with Megaspeed completely normal.

A later report said US officials believed the two had a romantic relationship, which pushed the story into full view, and he eventually admitted the affair. The story reaches into policy too. Jensen Huang has defended engaging with China and criticized US chip restrictions, and US intelligence officials reportedly suspect Beijing recruited Alice Huang to nudge him toward that stance and looser import-export rules.

In one clip, he was asked about selling China technology likened to a cyber weapon. He rejected the nuclear comparison, called it illogical, and described AI as a five-layered cake. AI can be weaponized, though, and may pose a national security risk.

Pressure was building before the resignation. Jensen Huang had been vanishing from AI event lineups; several high-profile figures in tech and finance had called for him to step down, and a class action lawsuit accuses him and the company of defrauding shareholders by hiding his ties to the suspected spy. Questions remain over whether he knew of her suspected role.

The stock has fallen again since the news broke, and investors are wary until a confident transition appears.

His family is in the spotlight too. Lori Huang rarely sought attention, but she attended major events and is documented as backing him in the company's struggling early days. Reports say his trademark jacket was an idea from her and their daughter.

Lori Huang and Jensen Huang never signed a prenup, so a divorce could hand Lori Huang about half of his roughly $140 billion fortune, which would be the largest divorce payout ever. The story isn't finished. Reports suggest the chipmaker may count Super Micro as a customer worth 10% of sales.

The story isn't over. Super Micro, which reportedly accounts for about 10% of Nvidia's sales, has its own history of accounting trouble, in 2018 and again in 2024, and next to that, Megaspeed could turn out to be the smaller problem.

A Chinese university has also reportedly bought restricted H200 chips despite being on a US blacklist. The board still hasn't published its findings, and reporters are still digging. Huang's run as CEO is over, and what he does next is anyone's guess.