Jensen Huang resigns as Nvidia CEO and CFO Colette Kress steps in as interim

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Nvidia has a new leader for the first time since the company was founded. Engadget reports that Nvidia's board said on Thursday that Jensen Huang has resigned as president and chief executive and given up his board seat, after leading the company since co-founding it in 1993

Colette Kress, the company's executive vice president and chief financial officer, is interim CEO and will keep her CFO role. The board is searching for a permanent chief executive and will consider internal and external candidates

The resignation follows days of turmoil. Huang admitted to an affair with a former tech executive who has been accused of being a Chinese intelligence asset, and the board launched an investigation, saying at the time that it had no reason to believe national security or Nvidia secrets were compromised, while further reports about his conduct followed

In a memo to staff earlier in the week, Huang apologised and called leading the company the privilege of his life. Under his leadership Nvidia moved from 3D graphics into AI and is now worth more than $4 trillion, and the company thanked him for his immeasurable contributions to the company and the industry

Few founders have shaped an industry the way Huang shaped GPUs and AI computing, so this is a remarkable end to a remarkable tenure. Kress has been at Nvidia since 2013 and knows the business inside out, which should help keep things steady. Choosing a permanent successor will be one of the most closely watched decisions in tech

How will Nvidia change without Jensen Huang? And who should the board pick as the next permanent CEO?

Jensen Huang is out as NVIDIA CEO - Engadgetwww.engadget.com