Jensen Huang quits Nvidia, agrees to testify to Congress

Nvidia lost its founder in an SEC filing. The fight now moves to Congress.

Nvidia's board accepted Jen-Hsun (Jensen) Huang's resignation as president, CEO and director, effective immediately on Nov. 11, according to the company's Form 8-K. CFO Colette Kress, in that job since 2013, is interim CEO and stays CFO. Harvey C. Jones, a director since 1993, is now board chair. The board is searching for a permanent CEO.

The filing gives no reason.

TopFive reported on Nov. 9 that Nvidia's board had opened an investigation into Huang. TechCrunch reported that he stepped down after reports of an alleged affair with a woman suspected of spying for China.

Both parties now have an inquiry open

Huang has agreed to testify before Congress by Thanksgiving, TechCrunch reported, citing Bloomberg and NBC News. The session will be behind closed doors, and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast expects it to be recorded on video and transcribed.

Mast and two other Republican chairs had asked Huang on Nov. 5 for a closed-door briefing on his dealings with Alice Huang, as TopFive reported.

On Nov. 12, Sen. Ron Wyden and Rep. Richard Neal, the top Democrats on Senate Finance and House Ways and Means, wrote to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to open their own investigation.

Their letter asks Commerce to preserve records on its Section 232 tariff process, on Nvidia's export license applications and on its communications about Nvidia and Huang. It describes the arrangement for H200 sales to China: chips came to the US for a security review, paid a 25 percent tariff under Section 232, then got licenses for resale to Chinese buyers. The letter calls that "what appears to be an unconstitutional export tax system."

The letter also cites reports that Commerce suspended a separate probe of Megaspeed, an Nvidia customer it describes as led by Alice Huang. Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs calls her Megaspeed's then-CEO. It said police looked at her role over suspected false declarations on server purchases, found insufficient evidence of offences, and gave her a stern warning for giving inaccurate information. She is barred from re-entering Singapore. The ministry said she "was not investigated for espionage."

The inquiries aim at the rules you buy under

Yes, Nvidia without Huang sounds like a different company. Your next order is still the same chip on the same roadmap. Nothing in the 8-K changes a product.

What can change is the rulebook. The Democrats' letter centers on how Nvidia's chips reached Chinese buyers and what the government charged along the way. Tighter licensing, a new tariff, or a reversal of the H200 approval would shift where chips go and what they cost.

That reaches you whether you buy accelerators or rent them from a cloud. If you are signing compute contracts for 2027, ask your provider how much of its pricing depends on today's export rules.

Watch the testimony and the successor

Two dates matter. Huang's testimony, due by Thanksgiving. And the board's choice of a permanent CEO, which tells you who speaks for Nvidia in Washington next.

Read the transcript. Then reread your GPU contract.