Kress now holds the interim CEO title Jensen Huang reportedly said she was not equipped for. Huang resigned as Nvidia’s president, chief executive officer, and board member effective Nov. 12, 2026, according to a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The board appointed Kress, Nvidia’s executive vice president and chief financial officer, as interim CEO while retaining her in the CFO role simultaneously. It said it would consider both internal and external candidates for a permanent successor, signaling that her elevation is interim rather than a promotion.
What Huang Reportedly Said About Her
The Wall Street Journal reported that Huang privately undermined the executive now responsible for steadying his company.
Kress reportedly questioned how Nvidia should select deals, value guarantees, and calculate returns on investment. According to people familiar with the matter, as reported by the Wall Street Journal, that scrutiny put her in direct conflict with an initiative Huang was driving, and he interrupted her during an August finance meeting and described her as “a deer in the headlights.”
Those same sources say Huang characterized her as a “reporting CFO,” suggesting he believed she lacked the strategic vision the role required. Those allegations have not been independently confirmed and should not be treated as judicially established findings.
The Strategy at the Center of the Conflict
A reported financing initiative meant to accelerate chip sales placed Kress’s fiduciary responsibilities in direct tension with Huang’s dealmaking ambitions.
Nvidia reportedly explored credit-support arrangements for cloud providers and data-center developers, with the goal of stimulating chip purchases and securing a share of customer revenue. The concern was that such arrangements could make Nvidia’s growth dependent not only on chip demand but also on the financial health of the customers building AI data centers.
The Ohio Data-Center Episode
A proposed financial backstop for an OpenAI project in Ohio illustrated the scale and risk of the strategy Kress was scrutinizing.
One reported example involved a proposal to provide a financial backstop for an OpenAI data-center project in Ohio. CNBC reported that an earlier proposed guarantee reached up to $250 billion, while the announced arrangement signed Aug. 17, 2026, was up to $105 billion.
Nvidia subsequently paused some financing arrangements and subjected new support deals to greater executive and board review, according to the supplied reporting. No primary-source confirmation of that pause has been independently established.
A Resignation Shaped by More Than Business
Huang’s departure followed reporting on matters well beyond the internal financing dispute.
The Associated Press reported that his resignation followed separate reporting about an alleged affair with a woman whom U.S. officials reportedly suspected of acting as a Chinese government agent, and a reported relationship with an Nvidia employee. The AP noted it could not independently confirm those accounts.
Nvidia had previously announced an independent investigation after reports that Huang may have been targeted by a foreign-intelligence effort, according to ABC News. Nvidia shares closed down 4.3% on Nov. 12, per ABC News.
The Weight of Kress’s Dual Role
She must now stabilize a company she reportedly worked to protect from the inside, while the board searches for a permanent leader.
Kress holds two senior roles at once: interim chief executive and chief financial officer of one of the most strategically significant companies in technology. She must stabilize operations while continuing to oversee the finances she reportedly scrutinized during Huang’s tenure.
Nvidia’s valuation reportedly rose from below $1 trillion to a peak near $5.8 trillion in October 2026, though that figure has not been independently verified against market-data records. What the SEC filing confirms is that the board faces two pressing tasks: finding a permanent leader and determining whether the company’s financing commitments created exposure that has yet to be fully assessed.
