Nvidia board eyes Kress as interim CEO: report

Updated Nov. 12, 2026, 6:15 a.m. ET: No decision has been announced on CEO Jensen Huang. Semafor reported late Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter, that some members of Nvidia's board favor appointing CFO Colette Kress as interim CEO if Huang is ousted. Apple's hardware chief Johny Srouji is among those being considered for the permanent role, reportedly, per Semafor. The full board has not made a decision, Semafor said. According to Semafor, the board also reportedly briefed the White House on its planned meeting, and some of the people said directors had considered pairing an interim CEO with a chief operating officer. CNBC said at 5:13 a.m. ET on November 12 that Nvidia had still not issued a public statement about Huang's future. Huang remains CEO until the board says otherwise.

Updated Nov. 11, 2026, 10:15 p.m. ET: Nvidia has not announced a decision on CEO Jensen Huang. The company's board is reportedly meeting Wednesday night, November 11, 2026, to decide whether to remove him, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, reported earlier Wednesday that the board was preparing to oust Huang, CNBC and Bloomberg reported. Nvidia shares fell about 8% in after-hours trading to $159.95 at about 5:35 p.m. ET, from a regular-session close of $173.73, according to Bloomberg data reported by Business Standard. Huang remains CEO until the board says otherwise.

What we know, and what we don't

What we know. On November 8, Nvidia's board said it was opening an independent investigation and that it had "confidence in Jensen and his leadership team." On November 10, the independent directors retained former acting U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to lead that review. Huang is still CEO. CNBC confirmed that the board met Wednesday to discuss whether to oust him. Semafor reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that some directors favor CFO Colette Kress as interim CEO if Huang is ousted, and that Apple's Johny Srouji is among those being considered for the permanent role. The Wednesday after-hours share-price figures come from Bloomberg. No official decision has been published.

What we don't know. Semafor said the full board has not made a decision. We do not know whether a vote has been taken, or whether Kress, Srouji or anyone else will be named. CNBC reported at 5:13 a.m. ET on November 12 that Nvidia had yet to make a public statement about Huang's future. As of early Thursday morning, Nvidia's newsroom still listed the November 8 board statement and the November 10 counsel announcement as its most recent official comments on the matter. Reuters earlier reported that Huang has no obvious successor.

Minutes before the Journal's report, The New York Times reported that Huang had a relationship with a senior Nvidia employee who reports to him, a report Reuters said it could not immediately verify.

Timeline

November 8, 2026. Nvidia's board announced an independent investigation after reports that founder and CEO Jensen Huang had been the target of a foreign intelligence effort. A committee of independent directors, assisted by outside independent counsel, would oversee the review. The board said: "While the Board has no reason to believe that either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised, the Board's inquiry will examine all available information." It also said: "The Board has confidence in Jensen and his leadership team and will provide further updates as appropriate." In a message published by Nvidia the same day, Huang acknowledged infidelity — "I was unfaithful to my wife" — and wrote, "I support the investigation and will cooperate fully." CNBC's report described the alleged targeting as involving Chinese intelligence. The board's statement confirms the review, not the underlying allegations.

November 9. Nvidia shares fell in premarket trading Monday. Axios reported the stock was off 4.4% in premarket as of 5:15 a.m. ET. CNBC, in a piece published at 4:05 a.m. EST, said shares were down nearly 5% in premarket and later that Nvidia was last trading down 4.8% in premarket. Those are separate timed reads of the same premarket session, not a regular-session close. China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said Monday the "so-called Chinese spy narrative" was unsubstantiated, Reuters reported via CNBC. Fallout also reached Nvidia AI Day Seoul. Bloomberg Law reported that Madison Huang, a senior Nvidia director and Jensen Huang's daughter, cancelled her appearance, citing a "family matter," and that a senior government official pulled out. The Herald Business, citing the Ministry of Science and ICT and industry sources, said her cancelled visit rendered a planned meeting with South Korea's Deputy Prime Minister Bae Kyung-hoon impossible. At the same day's MSIT–Nvidia AI Startup Partnership Forum, Nvidia announced planned investments in Upstage, Motif Technologies and RealWorld (also styled RLWRLD), with specific amounts not disclosed, MoneyToday reported; Nvidia's blog likewise listed planned investments in those three startups and did not publish dollar amounts. President Trump said Monday that he spoke with Huang and believes Huang did not know the woman he had an affair with was an alleged spy, CNBC reported. Al Jazeera and The Associated Press also reported those comments and that Trump said the FBI is looking into the matter. Trump's remarks do not resolve the board's review.

November 10. The independent members of Nvidia's board said they had retained Kim and Wachtell to lead the investigation announced November 8, according to a statement from the independent directors. CNBC and NBC News reported the same hire and that, as of Tuesday, Huang was still CEO.

November 11. The New York Times report on a relationship with a senior employee who reports to Huang was followed minutes later by the Journal's report that the board was preparing to oust him, CNBC reported. A source familiar with the matter then told Reuters the board was meeting Wednesday night to decide. Bloomberg data reported by Business Standard put after-hours shares at $159.95, down about 8%, at about 5:35 p.m. ET, after a $173.73 close. A Bloomberg account published by O Globo said the stock had been down 9% at 5:30 p.m. ET before that 5:35 p.m. reading. Reuters, in the CNA and GMA News accounts of its report, said Nasdaq futures were down about 1%, and that rival chipmakers AMD and Broadcom rose about 4% and 3%, respectively, in after-hours trading. As of late Wednesday evening, Nvidia had not issued a new statement, and no decision had been announced.

November 12. Semafor reported late Wednesday, November 11, at 10:27 p.m. ET, according to the timestamp on Yahoo's syndication of that article, that some members of Nvidia's board favor appointing CFO Colette Kress as interim CEO if Huang is ousted, according to people familiar with the matter. Semafor, which later updated the story early Thursday, said the full board had not made a decision, that Apple hardware chief Johny Srouji was among those being considered for the permanent role, that the board had briefed the White House on its planned meeting, according to a senior administration official, and that some of the people said directors had considered pairing an interim CEO with a chief operating officer. Bloomberg, in a report by Nina Trentmann and Ian King published on Bloomberg Law, said the board has been working with an outside firm to identify potential replacements, citing a person familiar with the situation, and that the board is weighing the idea of naming a temporary chief while searching for a permanent one. CNBC said Nvidia shares were down 6.3% in premarket trading as of 4:34 a.m. ET. A later CNBC piece, published at 5:13 a.m. ET, said shares were last seen roughly 5.4% lower in premarket and that Nvidia had yet to make a public statement about Huang's future. Those premarket figures are separate timed reads of the same session, not a regular-session close, and neither report gave a dollar price in the text we read. As of early Thursday morning, no decision had been announced, and Nvidia's newsroom had not posted a new statement.

Who could lead Nvidia?

No successor has been announced, and Semafor said the full board has not made a decision. Semafor reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that some members of the board favor appointing CFO Colette Kress as interim CEO if Huang is ousted. Apple's hardware chief Johny Srouji is among those being considered for the permanent role, reportedly, per Semafor, which also said he was among the executives considered for Intel's CEO job in 2019. Some of the people told Semafor that directors had considered pairing an interim CEO with a chief operating officer, and Semafor said the board briefed the White House on its planned meeting, according to a senior administration official.

Bloomberg, in a report by Nina Trentmann and Ian King on Bloomberg Law, said the board has been working with an outside firm to identify potential replacements, citing a person familiar with the situation, and that the board is weighing the idea of naming a temporary chief while searching for a permanent one. Reuters had earlier reported that Huang, who co-founded Nvidia and has led it for more than three decades, has no obvious successor, owns about 3.6% of the company's stock, and has dozens of direct reports. Under Nvidia's bylaws, Huang can be removed "with or without cause" by a majority vote of the directors, Reuters reported. The same account said Nvidia has 11 directors and considers all but Huang independent. If Wednesday's after-hours losses held, Nvidia would have lost about $600 billion in market value this week since the board announced its investigation, Reuters reported.

Those figures and the succession reporting are news accounts, not an official Nvidia forecast or a completed board decision.

The review still sits against a separate debate over access to Nvidia chips in China. Huang has publicly supported returning to that market: Reuters reported on October 31, 2025 that he hoped Blackwell chips could be sold there, while acknowledging the decision rested with the U.S. president. Codema's earlier reporting on Chinese H200 licensees and the H200 export-licensing framework explains those export-control questions. They do not establish the allegations now under review. Related coverage is collected on Codema's Hardware & Infra hub and in Chips & Semis. Our AI chips and memory guide covers the GPUs and export-control context around that market.

As of November 12, the board had not published findings or a completion date. Its November 8 statement describes reported targeting by a "foreign intelligence effort" without identifying a country. The November 10 statement names outside counsel but does not announce results. The China attribution comes from news reporting, not those official statements; neither the statements nor Huang's message establishes that espionage occurred. China's Monday denial likewise does not resolve the board's review.