Technology · Apps & Software

Jensen Huang Quits Nvidia as Congress Presses; Questions Remain

Jensen Huang resigned as Nvidia CEO this week amid a spy-linked scandal. House committees want him and the company's general counsel for closed-door interviews on December 1 and 2, and Commerce officials face scrutiny over China chip policy. CFO Colette Kress is interim chief.

By Elena Vance

November 15, 20262 min read

Jensen Huang Quits Nvidia as Congress Presses; Questions Remain

Questions remain after Nvidia CEO's resignation, as US lawmakers demand answers from Jensen Huang and the Trump administration over an alleged espionage plot and chip sales to China. Huang quit this week after more than three decades running the company he co-founded in 1993.

Nvidia's board named Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress interim CEO and began a search for a permanent successor, internal or external. It also appointed its first chair, Harvey Jones, a board member since 1993.

Congress sets dates

The chairs of three House committees, covering foreign affairs, the China select panel and intelligence, wrote to Huang and Nvidia general counsel Tim Teter. They want closed-door transcribed interviews on December 1 and 2.

"There are clear national security concerns that need to be addressed immediately," the chairs wrote. Neither man has commented publicly, and both could face subpoenas. Senator Tim Scott also said there were "serious concerns" to address.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has been called to testify over claims he did not do enough to restrict AI chip shipments to China. Under-Secretary of Commerce Jeffrey Kessler is due at a December 3 hearing. The Commerce Department did not respond to a request for comment.

What led to the exit

US intelligence reportedly suspects Alice Huang, a woman with whom Huang had a relationship, of being a Chinese spy. TechCrunch's reporting describes her as an executive at Megaspeed. Huang said on Sunday he had been "unfaithful" to his wife of more than 40 years, without naming anyone.

The New York Times later reported that he also had an extramarital relationship with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia's vice president of health care. Powell could not immediately be reached for comment.

Nvidia's board said at the time it had "no reason to believe that either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised". It said its inquiry would examine all available information. Nvidia and Huang also face a proposed class action accusing them of defrauding shareholders.

Market and policy fallout

Nvidia shares initially fell more than 6% on the day of the announcement. Huang holds a 3.6% stake valued at about $150 billion.

In December 2025, President Donald Trump let Nvidia sell advanced chips to China in exchange for a cut of the sales. Huang had argued that restrictions only sped up Beijing's own AI development. The administration has also not added to a trade blacklist of Chinese companies since October 2025, the longest gap in more than a decade.

Succession is a separate worry. Nvidia has no chief operating officer and no announced succession plan, and Huang kept about 60 direct reports. Analyst Ben Barringer of Quilter Cheviot said Huang "has already left an indelible mark on Nvidia".

Open source backers are watching too. Nvidia has not yet finalized a $13 billion deal to acquire Hugging Face, and it is unclear how Kress will approach it. A company insider said they do not expect leadership changes to affect development of Nvidia's Nemotron open AI models.