Nvidia's longtime finance chief Colette Kress has stepped in as interim CEO following the abrupt departure of Jensen Huang, who led the AI chipmaker for 33 years. Huang's exit comes amid a suspected intelligence scandal and reports of multiple extramarital affairs, capping a dizzying week for both the company and the broader artificial intelligence industry.
Huang had been one of Silicon Valley's most influential chief executives and a central figure in financing the AI boom. His departure raises uncertainty for an industry that has depended heavily on Nvidia's financial backing, leaving Kress to navigate both the company's investment strategy and a growing legal and political storm.
At the heart of the financial concern is Nvidia's practice of circular financing. The company invests in AI firms that then spend that capital on Nvidia's chips. OpenAI, Anthropic and CoreWeave have all relied on such funding, according to Gary Marcus, a cognitive scientist and longtime AI researcher, who spoke with Morning Edition. Marcus noted that many AI businesses continue to struggle with profitability despite the influx of capital.
"Nvidia has put itself basically in a position of being a bank, backstopping everything," Marcus told Morning Edition.
Marcus characterized Huang's approach to risk as aggressive. "Jensen was kind of a swashbuckler, willing to make bets of arbitrary size," Marcus told NPR Topics: National.
Kress's background differs markedly from Huang's engineering roots. With a career in finance, she is expected to take a more measured approach to large financial commitments, which could reshape how Nvidia supports the wider AI sector. That caution may prove critical as the company confronts scrutiny on multiple fronts.
Kress also faces the prospect of inquiries from federal agencies and Congress regarding Nvidia's business dealings involving China. Marcus said she will be left to "clean up that mess." He added that lawmakers are seeking clarity on what information Huang may have shared with Alice Huang and on why Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick did not act sooner.
"Why didn't Lutnick shut some of this down when he was asked to?" Marcus told NPR Topics: National.
The coming weeks will test whether Kress can stabilize Nvidia's relationships with the AI startups that depend on its capital while simultaneously managing the legal and political consequences of her predecessor's tenure. For an industry built in large part on Nvidia's backing, the stakes extend well beyond the company itself.
