Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s co-founder and chief executive since 1993, resigned Thursday, Nov. 12, leaving his posts as president, CEO and director effective immediately, the board said. Nvidia shares dropped as much as 14% at Thursday’s market open, extending a slide that has erased more than $1 trillion in market value this month. Finance chief Colette Kress will serve as interim CEO while the board searches for a permanent replacement.

Huang, 63, stepped down after a lengthy board meeting Wednesday. His departure followed his acknowledgment of an extramarital affair with a customer’s executive and reports of another with a senior executive who ran Nvidia’s health care business and reported to him.

Huang acknowledged the first affair and apologized in a letter to staff Sunday, Nov. 8. That relationship involved Alice Huang, an executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed, a major Nvidia customer.

U.S. intelligence officials believe Alice Huang works for China’s intelligence services. China has rejected the espionage allegations, with its embassy calling them “smears.” She has not responded to requests for comment.

The second affair was described by people who worked at Nvidia and a person familiar with the matter. Nvidia declined to comment, and the executive did not respond to requests for comment.

Kress, who joined Nvidia in 2013, will retain her CFO role while serving as interim CEO. In a note to employees, she said she believes “deeply in this company” and called them “our greatest strength.”

The board named longtime director Harvey C. Jones its first-ever chair. Jones, a former Synopsys CEO, joined the board in 1993. Directors will consider internal and external candidates for the permanent CEO position.

Huang had roughly 60 direct reports and has said he does not believe in succession planning. Nvidia’s proxy statement warns that failure to ensure effective succession planning could “hinder our strategic planning, execution, and long-term success.”

RBC cut its stock forecast, citing the lack of a formal succession plan. Bernstein also downgraded Nvidia shares.

President Donald Trump defended Huang this week, calling him an “honorable man” and saying Huang told him he did not know Alice Huang was a suspected spy. Trump is scheduled to travel to China next week.

Nvidia will report third-quarter results on Tuesday, Nov. 17, as previously scheduled. Jones said the board expects Nvidia’s operations and product roadmap to continue “without interruption.”

More details soon here on implicator.ai.

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Editor-in-Chief and founder of Implicator.ai. Former ARD correspondent and senior broadcast journalist with 10+ years covering tech. Writes daily briefings on policy and market developments. Based in San Francisco. E-mail: editor@implicator.ai