Nvidia (NVDA) co-founder Jensen Huang abruptly resigned as chief executive on Thursday, November 12, capping a stunning two-week scandal that erased roughly $600 billion in shareholder value from the world's most valuable chipmaker. The 63-year-old founder, who led Nvidia for 33 years and built it into a nearly $4 trillion artificial-intelligence powerhouse, stepped down effective immediately after the company's board opened an investigation into extramarital affairs — including one with a woman U.S. intelligence has described as a Chinese spy. Chief financial officer Colette Kress has been appointed interim CEO, and Wall Street is now racing to reprice the stock ahead of Nvidia's pivotal fiscal third-quarter earnings report on Tuesday, November 17.
From Spy Allegations to a Shock Resignation: How the Nvidia Scandal Unfolded
The crisis began on October 29, when The New York Times first reported that Huang — the leather-jacketed face of the AI boom — had been involved in a relationship with a woman whom U.S. intelligence determined to be a Chinese spy. On November 8, Nvidia confirmed it had opened an internal investigation, and Huang sent a memo to employees acknowledging the situation. Then, on November 11, the Times reported a second extramarital affair, this time with an Nvidia executive who reported directly to him.
That second revelation proved to be the breaking point. On Thursday, November 12, the board announced that Huang had resigned as president, chief executive, and director. In a statement, the company said its strength "has always come from its people," and named Kress — a longtime lieutenant who joined Nvidia in 2013 and became CFO in 2013 — as interim CEO while a search for a permanent successor begins.
The resignation ends one of the most consequential tenures in corporate history. Under Huang, Nvidia grew from a graphics-card maker into the dominant supplier of the chips powering modern AI, briefly becoming the world's most valuable public company. That legacy is now colliding with a personal scandal that has raised national-security questions and rattled the broader AI trade.
The Market's Verdict: $600 Billion Erased and Wall Street Downgrades
Investors reacted swiftly and brutally. Nvidia's shares opened down as much as 14% on Thursday, dropping to their lowest level since June 2025, according to Bloomberg. The stock ultimately closed down about 4% for the day, but the damage was done: the company's market value sank below $4 trillion, and roughly $600 billion in market capitalization was wiped out over the course of a week that marked Nvidia's sixth consecutive week of declines.
The selloff was amplified by a cascade of Wall Street downgrades. Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon slashed his price target from $400 and downgraded the stock. HSBC's Frank Lee cut Nvidia to hold from buy, lowering his target to $170 from $365. GF Securities' Jeff Pu downgraded the stock to hold with a $188 target, down from $235. Truist and Craig-Hallum both moved to hold, with targets of $174 and $180 respectively, while Melius Research's Ben Reitzes trimmed his target to $185. Even Citi, which kept its buy rating, cut its target to $225.
Several analysts told CNBC that Huang's departure could drive the stock down as much as 20%, given how closely Nvidia's identity has been tied to its founder. Not everyone is bearish, however. Dan Ives of Yorkville Ives & Co. trimmed his target but stayed constructive, arguing that Nvidia without Huang "evens the playing field" in AI — a double-edged signal for the chip giant's dominant position.
AMD Emerges as a Winner as Nvidia's Leadership Crisis Deepens
While Nvidia bled value, its top rival capitalized. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) shares jumped about 5% to $582.05 on November 12 as investors reassessed the AI-chip competitive landscape, and Broadcom (AVGO) rose as much as 6%. William Blair analysts argued AMD stands to "benefit significantly" from Nvidia's turmoil, betting that hyperscaler customers may accelerate their push to diversify away from a single, now-distracted supplier.
The rotation underscores a key risk for Nvidia shareholders: the company's dominance in AI accelerators has been built as much on Huang's strategic vision as on silicon. With that leadership gone, analysts warn that rivals such as AMD and Broadcom — along with custom-chip efforts from the hyperscalers themselves — have a rare opening to gain share. For investors weighing the two names, the scandal has transformed a one-sided rivalry into a genuine two-horse race.
Why Nvidia's Fundamentals Still Matter: Earnings Loom Next
Amid the drama, the underlying business remains formidable. Nvidia reported second-quarter fiscal 2027 revenue of $96.2 billion, with data-center revenue of $89.0 billion, and it guided third-quarter revenue to $108 billion, plus or minus 2%, with gross margins around 74%. Consensus expectations call for about $2.47 in earnings per share on roughly $108.8 billion in revenue when the company reports on November 17 — a roughly 90% year-over-year revenue jump.
That is why some analysts argue the selloff has gone too far. Nvidia's stock, which ended 2025 at $186.50, now trades near $161 — a level that implies its first losing calendar year since 2022 despite still-booming AI demand. The earnings report, coming just five days after the resignation, will be the first major test of whether the company's fundamentals can decouple from its founder's departure.
What Happens Next: The CEO Search, Trump's Tim Cook Pitch, and Investor Calculus
The board, which is still selecting a search firm and has not yet formally engaged candidates, faces an urgent succession challenge. Among the names in circulation are Arm CEO Rene Haas, Nvidia VP Ian Buck, and Google Cloud's Thomas Kurian. President Donald Trump publicly threw his support behind former Apple CEO Tim Cook, who recently stepped down from Apple — though several outlets note the board has given no indication it plans to tap an outside tech veteran so quickly.
For investors, the immediate catalysts are clear: the November 17 earnings report and any update on the CEO search. Huang leaves with a stake worth roughly $132 billion, and his personal net worth fell by as much as $10 billion during the rout. Meanwhile, reports that insiders had sold more than $1 billion of stock before the scandal broke add another layer of uncertainty that could weigh on sentiment even if the earnings print is strong.
The Bottom Line for Investors
- Jensen Huang resigned as Nvidia CEO on November 12, 2026, effective immediately, after an affair scandal involving an alleged Chinese spy and a second company executive.
- Nvidia lost roughly $600 billion in market value in a week, sinking below a $4 trillion valuation to its lowest since June 2025.
- Multiple Wall Street banks downgraded the stock and cut price targets, though some bulls argue the selloff overshoots Nvidia's still-strong fundamentals.
- CFO Colette Kress is interim CEO, with the permanent succession search underway ahead of Nvidia's November 17 earnings report.
- Rival AMD rose about 5% as investors repositioned for a more competitive AI-chip market.
