Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang resigns after affair scandal; Colette Kress interim

Huang's resignation follows reports of three affairs, including one with Alice Huang, an alleged Chinese spy whose shell company Megaspeed is at the center of chip-funneling allegations. The abrupt exit marks a stunning downfall for a CEO who led Nvidia for 33 years and became the public face of the AI boom. Martin Casado of a16z called it a "dark, dark day," and Penny Herscher, a longtime semiconductor executive, told Fortune the situation is "self-inflicted, but horrible." The board has turned to CFO Colette Kress as interim CEO and Harvey Jones, its first-ever chairman, to lead the search for a permanent successor. Huang had been a leading voice opposing U.S. export controls on AI technology and government regulation of open models, and his departure leaves that community without its main champion, which may make stricter regulation more likely given the Democratic Party's midterm wins. The stock market's reaction has been modest so far, with Nvidia shares down 4% at the bell, but the broader AI industry faces a period of instability, with rumors swirling that Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei may have orchestrated the downfall, though there is no proof yet.