Jensen Huang has resigned as President, Chief Executive Officer, and a member of the Board, effective immediately, NVIDIA's Board of Directors announced on Thursday. CFO Colette Kress has been appointed interim CEO as the board begins searching for a permanent successor.

Kress will continue to serve as executive vice president and CFO while serving as interim CEO. The board said it would consider both internal and external candidates in its search for a permanent chief executive.

Kress joined NVIDIA in September 2013 and has served as executive vice president and CFO since then, leading the company's finance organization and playing a key role in its growth and development. Before joining NVIDIA, she spent nearly 25 years in finance positions at major technology companies, including Cisco and Microsoft.

Harvey Jones, chair of NVIDIA's board, said Kress had helped lead the company through a period of extraordinary growth and had a deep understanding of its business, customers, operations and financial position.

The board expressed confidence in Kress and the company's leadership team, saying operations, customer commitments and the product roadmap were expected to continue without interruption.

Kress said she is committed to building on the foundation Huang had established over the past 33 years, advancing NVIDIA's work in accelerated computing and artificial intelligence, and serving its customers, partners, developers and shareholders.