The key facts

  • Jensen Huang stepped down as president, CEO and board member of Nvidia with immediate effect; interim CEO is Colette Kress
  • Nvidia shares closed on Thursday down 4.3%; Asian tech stocks traded mixed on Friday
  • Nvidia will report fiscal 2027 third-quarter results on November 17

What happened

Nvidia announced that Jensen Huang has left the posts of president, chief executive officer and board member with immediate effect. The company's longtime chief financial officer Colette Kress has been appointed interim CEO, and she will retain her financial duties while the search for a permanent successor continues. The board of directors also appointed a chairman for the first time — Harvey C. Jones — and stated that the company's operations, commitments to customers and product roadmap are expected to continue without interruption.

Market reaction

On Thursday, Nvidia shares on Wall Street closed down 4.3%; the S&P 500, Nasdaq Composite and Dow Jones each lost about 0.4%, with the Dow closing at 52,297.09. Some of Nvidia's competitors, by contrast, rose: Advanced Micro Devices gained 5.9%. On Friday, European indices opened lower — the FTSE 100 in London fell 0.2%, the Paris and Frankfurt indices fell 0.3%, and futures on US stocks, including the Nasdaq 100, also declined.

Asian trading: a mixed picture

Asian tech stocks moved in different directions on Friday. Japan's Nikkei 225 closed up 0.5% at 61,142.35, with SoftBank Group, an investor in OpenAI, losing 5.1%, Kioxia down about 2.2%, and Tokyo Electron up 1.7%. South Korea's Kospi fell 1% to 5,290.53: Samsung Electronics dropped 1%, SK Hynix about 3%. Taiwan's Taiex rose 1.3–1.35% to 43,675.12, with TSMC gaining about 0.4%. The Shanghai Composite closed down 0.6% at 3,634.35, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was losing more than 1.5% around 09:00 GMT, and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.7% to 9,082.20.

Reasons for the departure and assessments of the consequences

The announcement followed reports of two of Huang's romantic affairs, including with a woman suspected of spying for China, which raised concerns in US national security circles. Huang was a co-founder of Nvidia and a key figure in its AI strategy and the broader artificial intelligence boom; some in the industry considered his face more significant than the company itself.

Analysts' opinions

Ben Barringer, head of technology research at Quilter Cheviot, said he does not expect a short-term impact on the company as long as its order book remains strong and it meets its targets. In his view, the news threatens the broader AI ecosystem in the long term: Huang was highly influential in discussions on AI regulation and turned Nvidia into a leader in investment and financing in the field, and without his voice the company may over time fail to retain its former influence.

Additional pressure and what comes next

Markets were also under pressure from rising oil prices after US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the US does not need a deal with Iran while the conflict in the Middle East continues. Brent rose 0.7% to $96.48 per barrel — compared with roughly $72 before the start of the Iranian war in late February; WTI rose 0.2% to $88.91. December gold futures in the US climbed to $3,899.00 per troy ounce. Investors are awaiting Nvidia's fiscal 2027 third-quarter results report on November 17 — this will be the next milestone after the leadership change.