Jensen Huang’s Exit Leaves Nvidia’s Open Source AI Strategy in Question
By James Dargan · · 3 min read
Jensen Huang’s resignation as Nvidia CEO on Thursday has removed one of the most influential advocates for open source AI, raising questions over whether the chipmaker will maintain his commitment to the open model ecosystem. Huang stepped down after admitting to an affair with Alice Huang, a Megaspeed executive alleged to be a Chinese spy, prompting national security concerns and renewed scrutiny of his support for softer chip export controls on China. CFO Colette Kress has been named interim CEO, and no permanent successor has been appointed.
Huang consistently framed open source AI as beneficial for safety, innovation, diffusion and sovereignty. His departure comes before Nvidia has finalised a $13 billion deal to acquire open source platform Hugging Face, whose CEO Clem Delangue said on X that the company would continue fighting for open source whatever happens next. Nvidia has also agreed to pay $6 billion for a non-exclusive licence to technology from open AI coding startup Poolside.
Within Nvidia, Huang championed the Nemotron family of open-weight models built for long-running agentic systems and reasoning workloads, positioning them as potential competitors to closed frontier models. A company insider told TechCrunch they do not expect the leadership change to affect Nemotron development. Huang also invested in startups such as Reflection AI and Thinking Machines Lab to make American open models more competitive.
His influence extended to Washington. Earlier this year, Huang wrote an open letter signed by 25 companies, including Microsoft, Meta, IBM and Palantir, urging the US government not to over-restrict open-weight models, many of which originate in China. The letter followed debate over allegations that Chinese AI labs were stealing intellectual property from American firms such as Anthropic and OpenAI, both of which have reportedly pressed Washington for stronger protections. Huang’s visibility and Nvidia’s market power made him the leading counterweight to closed-model providers that have called for tighter restrictions on advanced models for safety reasons.
Members of the open source community are concerned that his successor may take a more cautious approach, and it remains unclear how Kress will handle the Hugging Face deal. His exit could also strengthen the case for tougher restrictions on Chinese AI companies, which could limit competition for leading American labs that keep their models closed. However, open source support is also central to Nvidia’s business. As major customers including Google and OpenAI develop their own chips, a broad ecosystem of developers training and running models means more GPU sales and less reliance on a handful of frontier labs.
Huang has now agreed to testify before Congress by Thanksgiving, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast said on Thursday, according to Bloomberg and NBC News. Huang agreed after senior lawmakers threatened a subpoena, following a letter from Mast, John Moolenaar, chair of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, and Rick Crawford, chair of the House Intelligence Committee. Mast said he and Huang have been sharply at odds over export controls and that while Nvidia is a very important company to the US, Huang has serious questions to answer. The briefing will take place behind closed doors, though Mast expects it to be recorded on video and transcribed.
Reuters reported on Thursday that Huang had also been in a separate, previously unreported relationship with another Nvidia employee, whom it did not name. This follows earlier reports of his relationships with Alice Huang and Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of healthcare.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump suggested on Truth Social that Apple executive chairman Tim Cook is the only person who could replace Huang. Cook stepped down as Apple CEO on September 1, 2026, after 15 years, handing the role to John Ternus while remaining involved in policy engagement and international relationships, including with China. Yale School of Management’s Jeffrey Sonnenfeld also named Cook as a potential candidate in a Time op-ed, citing his record of successfully following founder Steve Jobs at Apple.
