On November 12, 2026, NVIDIA announced that founder Jensen Huang has resigned as president, CEO and board member. CFO Colette Kress will serve as interim CEO until a successor is named. The company did not give a reason for the resignation. Meanwhile, its quarterly filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) shows the sizable financial commitments the new leadership will inherit. The maximum amount of guarantees NVIDIA has provided on customers' data center leases is $108.5 billion, about 1.9 times its cash, cash equivalents and marketable debt securities. Whether to approve additional guarantees is likely to be one of the key decisions facing the new management.
An unusual structure: the CFO doubles as interim CEO
According to NVIDIA's official announcement and the Form 8-K filed with the SEC, the board accepted Huang's resignation on November 11 and made it public the next day. Kress, 59, who has served as NVIDIA's CFO since 2013, will keep the CFO role while serving as interim CEO. The board will select a new CEO from internal and external candidates. Harvey C. Jones, a director since 1993, was named the company's first chairman of the board.
NVIDIA is stressing continuity. Jones expressed the view that business operations, customer commitments and the product roadmap will not be disrupted. Kress also indicated that she intends to build on the foundation Huang laid over 33 years.
The appointment, however, temporarily concentrates the CEO and CFO responsibilities in Kress. Although the 8-K spells out the dual role, it does not explain the specific procedures for approving large investments or credit guarantees. NVIDIA plans to report fiscal 2027 third-quarter results as scheduled at around 1:20 p.m. Pacific time on November 17 (6:20 a.m. on November 18 in Japan). The earnings call is scheduled to begin at 2:00 p.m. Pacific time the same day (7:00 a.m. on the 18th in Japan). Attention will focus on how much the new leadership explains about its operations and financial policy.
Up to $108.5 billion in credit guarantees, about 1.9 times cash and equivalents
The key to understanding NVIDIA's financial commitments is the credit guarantees described in its fiscal 2027 second-quarter 10-Q. The company has guaranteed up to $3.5 billion for AI cloud providers' data center leases, and up to $105 billion under an agreement related to SB Energy signed in August 2026. Against this combined maximum of $108.5 billion, cash, cash equivalents and marketable debt securities as of July 26 were $56.6 billion, making the simple ratio about 1.9 times. Note, however, that the guarantee total includes the August agreement while the cash figure is the balance as of July 26, so the reference dates of the two numbers do not match.
The SB Energy guarantee covers a data center to be built at the PORTS Technology Campus in Pike County, Ohio. For the facility, which will be leased by an OpenAI affiliate and has an IT load of about 4.25 GW, NVIDIA would provide credit support for part of the lease obligations. The lease term is 20 years, and NVIDIA's payment obligation arises only if the tenant defaults under certain conditions. The guarantee also does not cover the full construction cost of the facility or the entire lease debt, but is limited to a portion of the rent and power charges specified in the contract.
The guarantee does not become fully effective upon signing. Construction of the data center is divided into nine phases, and the guarantee takes effect as the lease begins at each facility. The first facility is expected to come online in fiscal 2029. The guaranteed amount will increase as each phase goes live and decrease as OpenAI pays rent. The arrangement also provides that the guarantee ends if contractual conditions, such as obtaining a certain credit rating, are met.
Separately from the existing contracts, NVIDIA holds an option to provide additional credit support of about 3.8 GW in stages, at its own discretion. The 10-Q states explicitly that the company can decide independently whether to exercise this option. The amount and timing of any additional guarantee are not fixed, but if exercised, NVIDIA's potential credit exposure could expand further.
NVIDIA's financial commitments also go beyond credit guarantees. According to the same 10-Q, purchase obligations for supply and production capacity needed to make semiconductors and data center equipment rose from $119 billion in the previous quarter to $279 billion. Total commitments for future spending reach $366 billion. Of this, however, the $279 billion mainly relates to procuring memory and production equipment needed to manufacture its own products, which differs in nature from credit guarantees that support customers' financing. Some procurement contracts also include terms that allow cancellation, rescheduling or quantity adjustments before a formal order is placed.
Among items related to financial support for customers and partners, there is also a $36 billion commitment to purchase cloud services under contracts with AI cloud providers. While NVIDIA commits to buying cloud services, the contract allows the provider to stop providing services to NVIDIA unilaterally and sell them to third parties. In addition, the company holds $99 billion in equity investments and has committed to a further $25 billion in investments. The $25 billion investment commitment is included in the $366 billion breakdown, but the existing $99 billion in equity investments, the $36 billion for AI cloud and the $108.5 billion in credit guarantees are not. These are items of different natures—existing investments, future spending obligations and conditional guarantees—and cannot simply be added together and treated as debt.
The guarantees are also highly concentrated. Of the maximum $108.5 billion, the $105 billion tied to SB Energy accounts for about 96.8%. In other words, most of the potential loss from the guarantees is linked to the data center lease agreement of an OpenAI affiliate. On the revenue side, too, there is dependence on a specific customer: in the second quarter, one direct customer accounted for 16% of total revenue. However, the 10-Q does not name this customer, so it cannot be equated with the party covered by the SB Energy guarantee.
The size of the guarantees alone does not determine the risk
That said, it would not be appropriate to judge NVIDIA's financial risk from the $108.5 billion figure alone. First, this is the maximum amount of the guarantees, not an amount NVIDIA must actually pay. The SB Energy-related guarantee is expected to take effect in stages from fiscal 2029, and if the borrower pays rent as agreed, NVIDIA incurs no payment obligation. The scope and termination conditions of the guarantees are also defined, so the $108.5 billion does not translate directly into cash outflow.
Second, using only the $56.6 billion in cash, cash equivalents and marketable debt securities as the benchmark may understate NVIDIA's financial capacity. The company separately holds $42.8 billion in marketable equity securities, which brings the total to $99.4 billion. The ratio to the maximum guarantee amount then narrows to about 1.1 times. However, the 10-Q states that $36.9 billion of equity investments are subject to short-term sale restrictions, and market price fluctuations must also be considered. The full amount of the equity investments cannot be used immediately in the same way as cash.
Third, interim CEO Kress is someone who has led NVIDIA's finance function since 2013. She has long been involved in large investments, financing and financial relationships with customers, so a change at the top does not necessarily mean a shift in financial policy. There is every possibility that the company will maintain its existing strategy while it proceeds with selecting a formal successor.
Still, how the new leadership handles additional credit support is an important issue. Existing guarantees take effect in stages under their contracts, but the additional guarantee of about 3.8 GW is left to NVIDIA's own judgment. If it is exercised before a permanent CEO is chosen, Kress, who holds the interim CEO post concurrently, and the board may have to judge its financial merits. What approval procedures would apply cannot be confirmed from the currently disclosed materials.
The size of the guarantees also indicates the ceiling of potential losses, not the probability that a default will actually occur. That probability cannot be calculated from the 10-Q, and there is currently no basis for predicting a specific loss amount. What should be evaluated is not only the maximum guarantee amount but also the conditions under which the contracts take effect, the borrowers' ability to pay, and management's decisions on additional guarantees.
The benchmark going forward will be the maximum guarantee amount and its breakdown in the next 10-Q. If it does not rise above $108.5 billion and a permanent CEO is appointed, concerns that customer credit guarantees will expand under the interim arrangement would ease. Conversely, if additional credit support is exercised and the guarantee total builds up, it would show that the strategy of financially backing customers' AI infrastructure investments is expanding even after the change at the top.
At the November 17 earnings release, it will be worth watching whether there are new explanations about investments and credit guarantees, in addition to revenue, which was $96.221 billion in the previous quarter. How far NVIDIA will draw on its own balance sheet to capture enormous AI infrastructure demand, and who will make that decision and by what criteria, will be a key factor in evaluating the management structure after Huang's departure.