Huang reportedly called Kress a 'reporting CFO' who only knew how to present data

Kress pushed back on cloud financing deal led by Huang's son-in-law

Helped cut OpenAI data center support in half

Will serve as acting CEO while also holding CFO role; earnings due Tuesday

Colette Kress, Nvidia's acting CEO. [Reuters]
Colette Kress, Nvidia's acting CEO. [Reuters]

Former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang once publicly disparaged Colette Kress, who has now succeeded him as acting chief executive. Yet Kress had long served as an internal check on management's investment decisions — pushing back on a business venture led by Huang's son-in-law and helping scale back the company's financial support for OpenAI.

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday on episodes in which Huang criticized Kress's performance during her tenure as chief financial officer, as well as instances where the two clashed over major investment decisions.

According to the report, Huang summoned Kress and senior finance executives last summer to review the financial risks tied to a large-scale financing program. At the time, Nvidia was exploring plans to provide billions of dollars in loan guarantees and other financial support to companies that lacked the funds to purchase its AI chips.

The arrangement was designed so that customers would use the financing to buy Nvidia semiconductors — but it carried the risk that Nvidia itself could be exposed to financial losses if those customers ran into trouble. Huang was also said to share concerns that the program was growing too large.

During the meeting, however, as Kress was presenting the details, Huang abruptly cut off the presentation and called her "a deer in the headlights."

The phrase refers to someone who freezes or fails to respond appropriately when caught off guard — like a deer paralyzed by oncoming headlights.

Huang also reportedly described Kress as a "reporting CFO" — someone who merely relays financial data rather than shaping company strategy or making consequential decisions.

Despite that characterization, Kress had in practice been a voice of caution within Nvidia, flagging risks in the company's large-scale investments and financing deals.

A prominent example involved a cloud financing initiative championed by Vice President Nico Caprez — Huang's son-in-law — and Vice President Raj Mirpuri.

The two executives pushed last spring to extend credit to cloud service providers in exchange for a share of those companies' future sales revenue — a model that would allow Nvidia to help customers secure funding while generating income beyond chip sales.

Kress raised objections over which companies should qualify for support, how the value of the guarantees should be assessed, and how returns on investment should be calculated.

Colleagues who worked alongside Kress said she worked to rein in Caprez's push for the program after his promotion to vice president in January.

Kress also played a role in adjusting the scale of Nvidia's financial commitment to a massive data center project for OpenAI. Nvidia had been in discussions to provide substantial financing for a large data center OpenAI was developing in Ohio.

Kress reviewed the financial exposure during that process and was said to have helped cut the initially discussed support to roughly half its original size. Nvidia and OpenAI subsequently signed a deal based on the reduced terms.

Kress was not opposed to Nvidia's AI expansion itself. Her position, according to people familiar with the matter, was that the company needed to carefully weigh how the financial support it extended to customers to drive chip demand would affect Nvidia's financial health and profitability.

Kress joined Nvidia in 2013 and has led its finance organization for more than 13 years, a period during which the company grew to a market value of $5.8 trillion as it came to dominate the AI semiconductor market.

Despite her clashes with Huang, Kress has cited him as one of the reasons she joined Nvidia, calling him a "visionary." Since being named acting CEO, she has said she respects the achievements of her predecessor.

In a memo to employees, Kress said the company would "continue to build on the incredible foundation Jensen has created over the past 33 years."

Nvidia officially announced Huang's resignation Thursday and named Kress as acting CEO.

Huang had become embroiled in controversy after reports of extramarital relationships, including with a woman alleged to have ties to Chinese intelligence.

The Nvidia board has asked Kress to lead the company while continuing in her CFO role, and plans to consider both internal and external candidates for a permanent CEO.

In addition, Nvidia named Harvey Jones, an existing board member, as the company's first-ever board chairman.

Huang's sudden departure rattled financial markets. Nvidia's share price tumbled as much as 14 percent during trading in New York on Thursday before paring losses to close down 4.3 percent from the previous session.

Nvidia is scheduled to report its third-quarter earnings for fiscal year 2027 on Tuesday. The results are drawing particular attention as the first quarterly earnings release since the departure of Huang, the company's founder and chief executive for 33 years.


kwater@heraldcorp.com