NVIDIA Interim CEO Kress: “Will Continue to Grow on the Foundation Jensen Huang Built”

【Byung-chul Lee, Financial News correspondent in New York】 Attention is focused on Colette Kress, the chief financial officer (CFO) who will lead the world’s largest artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor company following the sudden resignation of its CEO, Jensen Huang. Kress has overseen NVIDIA’s finances for the past 13 years and served as a key management partner to Huang. While market observers view her as the right person to fill the void left by Huang, there is also speculation that an outsider could be appointed as permanent CEO in the long term.
On the 12th (local time), NVIDIA’s board appointed CFO Kress as interim CEO following Huang’s resignation. The board is searching for a permanent successor among both internal and external candidates.
Kress joined NVIDIA in September 2013. Before that, she handled finance-related work at global technology companies including Cisco, Microsoft (MS) and Texas Instruments (TI). At NVIDIA, she has led quarterly earnings presentations alongside Huang and answered questions from investors and analysts.
Kress is seen as having effectively taken on the role of chief operating officer (COO), going beyond that of a finance chief.
Dan Ives, an analyst at Yorkville Ives & Company, told CNBC that “Kress is the only person within the company who is held in such high regard,” describing her as “not just a CFO but effectively someone closer to a COO.”
He said, “Jensen Huang did nothing without Kress,” and explained, “She was like NVIDIA’s Swiss Army knife, involved in every strategic matter, including customers, business partners and technology.”
Since co-founding NVIDIA in 1993, Huang has been known for a management style that leaves no clear second-in-command. He personally set priorities for major projects and emailed engineers, keeping tabs on even technical details. Yet Kress has also been deeply involved in key decision-making under this management structure.
In a statement that day, Kress said, “NVIDIA’s strength has always come from its people,” and “I will take the company further by building on the remarkable foundation Jensen Huang has established over the past 33 years.” She added, “I will continue to advance the business that made NVIDIA a leader in accelerated computing and AI, and realize the opportunities ahead.”




[email protected] Byung-chul Lee, correspondent Reporter