Nvidia said Thursday that Jensen Huang had resigned as president and CEO, and that he left its board too. He co-founded the chipmaker and ran it for 33 years. Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress is now interim CEO, and the board will look inside and outside the company for a permanent one. Former Synopsys CEO Harvey Jones becomes Nvidia's first-ever board chair. The company gave no reason for the move. On Sunday, Huang told employees he had been "unfaithful to my wife." News reports name the woman as Alice Huang, a Megaspeed executive. U.S. intelligence reportedly believes she worked for China's spy service. China calls that a smear. On Wednesday, The New York Times reported a second relationship. This one was with a health care executive who worked under Huang. Nvidia shares fell more than 10% in early trading Thursday.

He Had to Go Because He Was a Security Risk

Lawmakers in both parties had called for Huang to resign. They said his tie to an alleged Chinese spy made him a risk.

A CEO open to blackmail can't run Nvidia. Sen. Kevin Cramer, a North Dakota Republican, told CNBC on Wednesday that Huang "should resign." "This is a guy that's right now so vulnerable to extortion, blackmail," he said.

Democrats and more Republicans said it too. Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, a Virginia Democrat, said, "Jensen Huang should resign from Nvidia." Rep. Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican, said Huang "allowed himself to get compromised by the Chinese government."

The second report made it harder for the board to keep him. Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon said the reported relationship with someone who worked for Huang made it "much tougher for the board to leave him in position."

But Nvidia Just Lost the One Person It Can't Replace

Before the board acted, investors and tech allies said Huang was Nvidia. Some blame the board for having no plan to replace him.

There's no one else like him. Before the board decided, Rasgon told CNBC, "Jensen is Nvidia, right? He is the visionary." Sequoia partner Shaun Maguire called the affair "incredibly dumb" but wrote that Huang "is irreplaceable for America's AI leadership." Elon Musk replied, "I agree." On Wednesday night, Musk said it would be "an honor" to hire Huang.

His backers said a mistake shouldn't end his career. Pershing Square CEO Bill Ackman wrote, "Even incredible humans make mistakes." President Donald Trump called Huang "an honorable guy" on Sunday. "I think he probably has an excuse for it," Trump said.

The board never planned for life without him. Former Nasdaq CEO Robert Greifeld said Thursday morning that the board "has done a horrible job of succession planning." Before the decision, Richard Reyle of Questar Capital pointed out that Nvidia had no successor in place. He said moving on from Huang would make the stock "uninvestable." Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said the market now has to work out how much of Nvidia's premium came from one person.

Still, His Exit Doesn't Answer the Spy Questions

China hawks in Congress want to know what China got. They're still asking.

Congress still wants to know what China got. Rep. John Moolenaar, a Michigan Republican, chairs the House China committee. He wants to know whether Huang shared sensitive information, whether China got special access to scarce chips, and whether the relationship shaped Nvidia's lobbying against China chip limits. He warned on Tuesday that the board's investigation can't turn into "damage control." He and two other committee chairs had asked Huang for a closed-door briefing on Nov. 18. Rep. Brian Mast, a Florida Republican who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Thursday they're now negotiating the date.

Lawmakers want new chip export rules. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, and Sen. Jim Banks, an Indiana Republican, want their AI Overwatch Act added to the annual defense bill. Warren and Sen. Chris Coons have asked Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to preserve records. After the news, Warren said Huang's "decision to resign does not absolve him, other executives, or the company as a whole."

The spy story matters more than the affairs. Reason associate editor Liz Wolfe argued Thursday that the espionage angle is the bigger story. She noted that Chinese social media discusses the affair "as if the espionage angle does not exist at all."

Where This Lands

Cramer called Huang a blackmail risk who had to go, and Bacon said he let China compromise him. Rasgon and Maguire called him irreplaceable. Greifeld blames a board with no succession plan. Warren says resigning doesn't absolve Huang or Nvidia. Mast says the House is negotiating a date for Huang to testify. Nvidia reports earnings on Nov. 17, with Kress in charge.

Sources