Welp, that's it, the face of Nvidia is no longer the face of Nvidia. Jensen Huang served as CEO of the company since it was founded over three decades ago, and now he's out, replaced by the new interim CEO Colette Kress, who was previously Chief Financial Officer (exactly what we predicted, by the way).
This is in the wake of two affair scandals surrounding the former CEO. The first affair Huang admitted to, and it's alleged that the other party in the tango is a lady who is currently accused of being a Chinese spy. The second is a reported affair that Huang allegedly had with Nvidia's VP of healthcare, Kimberly Powell.
Many people expected Huang's resignation in the lead-up to this, so it is no big surprise that it has now been announced by Nvidia. But now that it's official, the response has largely been as expected: a combination of disappointment at his resignation and praise for his time as Nvidia CEO.
President Trump certainly expressed as much, saying Huang has done a "fantastic job." Trump also has a suggestion for who should take over: ex-Apple CEO Tim Cook: "Now that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who has done a fantastic job, has resigned, there is only one man to take his place - Tim Cook of Apple. A Legend replaces a Legend! President Donald J. Trump."
Hugging Face co-founder Clement Delangue expresses the general sentiment: "This whole thing sucks, and I wish none of it had happened. It’s a really sad day!"
This whole thing sucks, and I wish none of it had happened. It’s a really sad day! But I want to make one thing clear: we’ll keep fighting for open-source AI, harder than ever. This is too important to slow down now. Let’s go!November 12, 2026
Nvidia recently set out to buy Hugging Face, the open-source AI platform, and given the latter agreed, it makes sense for the company to assuage any fears over the news of Huang's resignation. Julien Chaumond, Hugging Face co-founder and CTO, has expressed that "the mission has not and will not change."
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has expressed his sadness, too: "A sad day for Nvidia, developers, America, and all humanity. Jensen founded and ran one of the few companies to reach a massive scale while driving massive continued innovation and ubiquity, while others fell into the trap of ever-increasing extraction."
A sad day for NVIDIA, developers, America, and all humanity. Jensen founded and ran one of the few companies to reach a massive scale while driving massive continued innovation and ubiquity, while others fell into the trap of ever-increasing extraction.November 12, 2026
Sweeney's response isn't a surprise. Before Huang's resignation was announced, both Tim Sweeney and Elon Musk certainly expressed high praise for Huang. The former said, "This would be an Apple firing Steve Jobs level of idiocy from Nvidia’s board if they did that, and a grievous harm to the United States of America." And the latter said it would be "an honor" to hire him.
It's also no surprise, then, that the Epic CEO has banged the same drum a few additional times since the announcement, calling it "far too much government heavy handedness" and taking a dig at Nvidia's new interim CEO for waiting a week until discussing everything in a company meeting.
Even ancient file-sharing platform LimeWire has jumped in on the news.
jensen huang come work at limewire we don't care who you date just bring the leather jacketNovember 12, 2026
Over the past couple of days before the resignation, there were differing opinions on whether Huang should resign or not. Some thought so, but the more general sentiment across social media seemed to be that regardless of any alleged affairs, he is a good CEO and it will be very damaging for Nvidia to lose him.
The reactions now, in the wake of Huang's resignation, seem to concur.
That is, apart from the US Select Committee on China, which is decidedly more stern:
"Jensen Huang’s firing from the company he founded is an unfortunate end that could have been avoided. It is in our national interest for NVIDIA and our other AI champions to succeed, but American companies should never jeopardize our nation’s security by giving Chinese companies access to their most advanced chips. Nvidia must now change its corporate practices and appoint leadership that makes national security its top priority. In Congress we must act quickly to pass bipartisan export control legislation in the year-end national defense bill."
Chairman @RepMoolenaar released the following statement in the wake of Jensen Huang's resignation from @NVIDIA: https://t.co/sCJIYnE7WoNovember 12, 2026
The political bigwigs in general will be looking to get from this whatever they can. New York senator and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer says, "Despite Jensen Huang’s resignation, Congress must demand answers from Mr. Huang and others at Nvidia about how they may have put U.S. national security at risk."
Despite Jensen Huang’s resignation, Congress must demand answers from Mr. Huang and others at Nvidia about how they may have put U.S. national security at risk. The Trump administration must also answer for what it did once it learned about Mr. Huang’s relationship with a suspected Chinese intelligence asset. Were government officials told not to investigate because of Trump’s relationship with Mr. Huang? What did Trump know when he personally invited Mr. Huang aboard Air Force One? Americans deserve to know that those at the highest levels of power are putting America first, not their bottom line or their personal friendships.November 12, 2026
As far as we're concerned as PC gamers, much of this might be by-the-by. Whoever heads up Nvidia, the company long since stopped putting gaming anywhere near the centre of its focus. AI is the name of the game, now.
I can't help but feel a little sad, though. Huang has been one of the biggest names in PC gaming hardware for decades, but no longer. Whatever you think of the man himself and whether he should have resigned, there is indeed something sad about his era being over.
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