Colette Kress Takes Nvidia’s Top Job After Huang Resigns

By Grace Kim

Nvidia named Colette Kress interim CEO on Thursday, putting its former chief financial officer in charge after CEO Jensen Huang resigned amid reports of two extramarital affairs, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The report said one affair involved a suspected Chinese spy. Huang’s exit moved Kress into the CEO’s job and gave her responsibility for Nvidia’s strategy after she had reportedly challenged his financing decisions for customers that could not afford the company’s chips.

Why did Huang resign?

The Wall Street Journal account tied Huang’s departure to revelations of two extramarital affairs, including one with a person described as a suspected Chinese spy. The report did not identify the people involved or provide more detail about the suspected Chinese spy.

For Nvidia, the immediate consequence was a leadership change. Kress, who had served as chief financial officer, now holds Huang’s former job on an interim basis.

What happened in this summer’s finance meeting?

This summer, Huang called a meeting with Nvidia’s top finance executives and reportedly tore into Kress. According to The Wall Street Journal, he interrupted her presentation and called her “a deer in the headlights.”

Huang also reportedly described Kress as more of a numbers reporter than someone who could help set strategy. The criticism now contrasts with the decision to give Kress the top job and authority over Nvidia’s direction.

Where did Kress challenge Huang?

Kress reportedly questioned Huang’s decision-making about Nvidia’s push to provide billions in financing for customers that could not afford its chips. Her concerns included deals led by Huang’s son-in-law, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Kress also cut Nvidia’s initial commitment to a massive OpenAI data center deal in half. That change reduced the commitment to 50% of its original level, though the report did not disclose a dollar amount.

The report describes the customer financing only as billions and gives no total, customer list or agreement-by-agreement breakdown. It calls the OpenAI transaction massive but provides neither an original nor a revised dollar value, so the precise size of Kress’s reduction remains unspecified.

The disagreement covered two separate capital commitments. One involved Nvidia’s willingness to finance chip purchases for customers unable to afford them. The other involved the scale of a major data-center deal that Kress had already reduced.

Together, those decisions put Kress’s own judgment at the center of Nvidia’s next capital commitments. She did not merely question a plan; she changed the size of a transaction.

What did Kress tell staff?

In a memo to staff, Kress praised Huang and pledged to keep “building on the extraordinary foundation Jensen created.” Her message paired appreciation with a commitment to continuity.

The reported excerpt reassured staff after Huang’s departure. It did not explain how Kress would handle the customer-financing questions or the reduced OpenAI commitment she had pursued. The report also did not say whether her interim appointment was intended to become permanent.

What does the succession mean?\n

The succession puts Huang’s judgment of Kress and Kress’s own record in direct tension. She now runs Nvidia even though Huang reportedly saw her as more of a numbers reporter than someone who could help set strategy. Her actions complicate that assessment: she questioned billions in customer financing and halved the OpenAI commitment.

The source does not say that Kress will break with Huang’s approach. It documents a record of cutting a major commitment and questioning billions in customer financing before she took the top job.

The central question now is whether Kress can preserve the strategic continuity she promised while retaining the financing scrutiny she reportedly pressed for. Her first major capital-allocation decisions will show whether continuity means preserving Huang’s approach unchanged or applying Kress’s own scrutiny to it.