Nvidia named CFO Colette Kress interim CEO after Jensen Huang resigned as president, CEO and director on Nov. 11, opening a search for a permanent leader at the U.S. chipmaker.
A Securities and Exchange Commission filing says Huang’s resignation from those three posts took effect immediately. Nvidia said directors would consider candidates from within and outside the company, but announced no shortlist or timetable. Kress will retain the CFO position while serving as interim CEO.
Kress has held Nvidia’s executive vice president and CFO posts since joining in September 2013. Before that, she worked in finance for almost a quarter-century across technology companies, including Cisco and Microsoft. The Guardian reported that she could stay in the CEO role permanently; Nvidia’s announcement names her only as interim chief executive.
Ian Buck, Nvidia’s vice president for hyperscale and high-performance computing, has also surfaced in succession discussions. His company profile describes a portfolio covering AI hardware and software for hyperscale AI. Reuters and CBS News reported that analysts had raised Buck as a possible internal choice.
The Guardian and Reuters have reported Arm CEO Rene Haas as a possible external successor. Arm identifies Haas as CEO since February 2022 and says he spent seven years at Nvidia earlier in his career. Nvidia has not said whether Buck or Haas is under formal consideration.
Nvidia says it expects the leadership change to leave operations, customer commitments and product plans on track. Interim CEO and CFO Kress said, “Our focus remains on serving our customers, partners, developers and shareholders.”
Nvidia’s next scheduled company milestone is its fiscal third-quarter 2027 results Tuesday, Nov. 17, at 4:20 p.m. ET, followed by an earnings call at 5 p.m. ET.
