Jensen Huang, a Leader of the Global AI Boom, Is Out as Nvidia CEO

After 33 years as Nvidia’s CEO, co-founder Jensen Huang has resigned following reports of two affairs: one involving a suspected Chinese spy and another involving an Nvidia employee. Reporter Robbie Whelan said the board initially believed it could survive the first scandal, but the second raised fears that the incidents reflected a pattern. Directors convened an emergency meeting late the previous day and moved quickly to push Huang out. Nvidia, whose chips underpin modern AI products, is now valued at about $4 trillion.

Nvidia appointed longtime Finance Chief Colette Kress as interim CEO and board member Harvey Jones, a venture investor and chip-design executive, as its first board chair. The board is considering internal and external candidates for a permanent replacement. Heard on the Street writer Asa Fitch said Kress is respected by analysts and viewed as a steady, “by-the-book” operator, giving investors some confidence that the business will continue functioning while Nvidia decides who will lead it permanently.

Nvidia shares fell 14% at the open but recovered to close down 4.3%. Fitch said the limited decline suggested investors still viewed Nvidia as central to AI, though analysts have been cutting price targets and expressing alarm about its strategy. The company has funneled money into AI companies, suppliers, and customers and participated in circular financing deals involving data centers and chip revenue. Nvidia’s earnings numbers are expected to be strong, but investors will focus on Kress’s guidance about spending, financing deals, and the CEO search.

Tech policy reporter Amrith Ramkumar said Huang’s exit creates a vacuum beyond Nvidia because he acted as the chip and AI industry’s figurehead. Huang had direct access to President Trump on questions such as whether advanced AI chips could be sold to China, and he lobbied for looser export rules. His black leather-jacket persona and international reach made him unusually influential: he could be mobbed by fans in Taiwan, meet Chinese officials, and then captivate audiences in Washington.

The National Association of Realtors reported that existing-home sales dropped 5.5% in October, reaching their lowest level since August 2010, when the economy was still recovering from the housing bust. Reporter Nicholas Miller said October sales largely reflected contracts signed in September, when a bond-market sell-off pushed mortgage rates above 7% and froze the market. Rates rose further in October, so Miller expects upcoming sales data to be worse and sees little optimism for next year as economists expect borrowing costs to remain elevated.

Although high mortgage rates are hurting the housing market, Miller said buyers who can afford them face much less competition because many others have left the market. That gives active buyers room to negotiate concessions from sellers, including payments that buy down their mortgage rates, and sometimes direct price cuts. The opportunity is therefore limited to people able to tolerate expensive financing, but the retreat of competing buyers can improve their negotiating position.

President Trump reversed course on negotiations with Iran, posting that the United States does not need a deal. He said he would rather have Vice President J.D. Vance, who had recently taken the lead in talks, investigate American cities run by Democrats. The statement contradicted Trump’s recent comments to aides and foreign officials that he was open to Vance restarting negotiations. A spokesman for Vance did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Ukraine’s military-grade Starlink service was disrupted again, disabling parts of the country’s defenses against Russian jet-powered drones attacking Ukrainian cities. Speaking in Dublin, President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was still seeking an explanation from the United States and warned that any decision treating Ukrainian territory as though it were not Ukrainian would reveal where policy was heading. He said Ukraine must never recognize Russia’s occupation. SpaceX denied limiting its service that day.

Arts editor Brian P. Kelly recommended Martin McDonagh’s dark spy comedy Wild Horse 9, starring John Malkovich as a cancer-stricken CIA operative visiting Easter Island with his partner, played by Sam Rockwell, while Steve Buscemi tries to keep a planned coup in Chile on schedule. Kelly also praised Godzilla Minus Zero, Takashi Yamazaki’s follow-up to his 2023 film, for combining loud monster action—including Godzilla versus Ghidorah—with stories about family, vengeance, and the ethics of science.

Bob Dylan’s 39-disc Rolling Thunder Review box set contains every professionally recorded concert from the second leg of his 1976 tour: 381 tracks, including 371 previously unreleased recordings; two are streaming, including a rocking “Maggie’s Farm.” Kelly also highlighted I Play Rocky, about Sylvester Stallone’s effort to make Rocky, and season two of Netflix’s Black Doves. In New York, a joint Francis Bacon–Willem de Kooning exhibition runs at Levy Gorvy Gian until December 19 and emphasizes similarities between their different styles.