Jensen Huang Resigns: The 24 Hours of Nvidia's Only CEO in Its Entire History

Nvidia announced on Thursday morning that Jensen Huang has stepped down from his CEO post.

On Wednesday, two reports came out almost at the same time. One claimed that Jensen Huang had an extramarital affair with his subordinate Kimberly Powell, while the other said the board of directors was holding a meeting to discuss removing him from office. The official resignation announcement came early on Thursday, less than 24 hours after the reports first emerged.

Before that, Jensen Huang was the closest person to being 'untouchable' in Silicon Valley. He is one of the co-founders of Nvidia, which was established in 1993, and he has been the only CEO in the company's history. There was no public succession plan, no clear number two in the company. Over the past decade, he transformed Nvidia from a gaming graphics card manufacturer into a core supplier of AI chips, a transformation that has been repeatedly cited as one of the most successful strategic pivots in Silicon Valley.

But the board of directors obviously did not intend to give him any more time.

The related materials also mention a 'second extramarital affair' and 'chip smuggling', these backgrounds make the incident even more complicated. The original report expands more on the details, but the core information is clear enough: a man once considered irreplaceable is no longer in that position after just one night.

Nvidia's announcement did not give any further explanation. CEO changes are not rare for companies, but Nvidia's situation is special: it has only ever had one CEO, and this CEO left no succession plan. Now, this plan has to be drawn up temporarily.