Reports of Jensen Huang’s relationship with a businesswoman suspected by U.S. authorities of spying for China first put Nvidia under scrutiny. The allegations remain disputed: Beijing has rejected them. A second reported affair—with an Nvidia executive who reported to Huang—intensified pressure on the company and its board.¹

On Thursday, Huang resigned as CEO, president and board member, ending a 33-year run at the chipmaker he co-founded. Nvidia named longtime CFO Colette Kress interim chief executive and began searching for a permanent successor.² The departure sent shares down nearly 10%, adding to a steep recent decline.³

Kress pledged to build on the company’s foundation, while board chair Harvey Jones said Nvidia’s operations, customer commitments and product roadmap would continue without interruption.⁴ But investors face a harder question: Huang was Nvidia’s only CEO, shaped its strategy and maintained a hands-on structure with no clear successor. One analyst called the lack of a succession plan enough to make the stock “uninvestable.”⁵

The counterargument is that Nvidia’s business may be sturdier than its leadership crisis. AI developers still need computing capacity, and one industry executive said the company supplies that capacity rather than creating the demand itself.⁶ Still, the allegations have put board oversight and U.S. chip-export policy under a brighter spotlight. China’s Foreign Ministry called the espionage claims fabricated and urged Washington to stop using them to justify technology restrictions.⁷

Some industry voices mourned Huang’s departure, praising his leadership and innovation. Aravind Srinivas thanked him for building a small startup into a leading American company,Aravind Srinivas (AravSrinivas)⁸ while Elon Musk shared a post calling it “a sad day for NVIDIA, developers, America, and all humanity.”Elon Musk (elonmusk)⁹ Nvidia’s next test is whether that legacy can carry on without its architect.