Elon Musk has backed calls to bring Jensen Huang back as Nvidia’s chief executive officer (CEO), saying he would sign a petition seeking the former chief’s reinstatement. Musk made the remark in response to a post by Yun-Ta Tsai, a senior staff engineer at Tesla Superintelligence, who urged Nvidia employees to use their collective influence to push for Huang’s return.
“If NVIDIA employees want Jensen back, they should start with ‘NVIDIA is nothing without its people’ – resign and chill,” Tsai wrote on X.
He argued that experienced graphics processing unit (GPU) engineers are difficult to find and replace, and that employees should take their professional futures into their own hands if they want to influence the company’s direction.
“A petition is underway to reinstate Jensen and I’m signing it too.”Elon Musk’s Reply to Tsai’s post
Musk did not identify the petition or share a link to it. His endorsement comes as some Nvidia employees are also calling on the company’s board to reconsider Huang’s departure.
According to media reports, an internal post on Nvidia’s employee suggestion platform, submitted by a longtime engineer before Huang’s resignation, has attracted more than 1,600 comments. Several employees have called for Huang to be reinstated, with one anonymous commenter writing: “If you believe in the mission, bring back THE boss.”
The original post had urged the board to consider employee sentiment before taking a decision on Huang’s future. Another employee reportedly sent a company-wide email demanding greater transparency about his exit and expressing support for the former CEO.
Nvidia’s chief financial officer, Colette Kress, is currently serving as interim CEO. The company’s board has said it will consider both internal and external candidates in its search for a permanent successor.
Meanwhile, Nvidia’s board has approached British chipmaker Arm Holdings CEO Rene Haas as a potential successor to Huang, the Financial Times reported on Friday, November 13, citing people familiar with the matter.
Haas spent seven years at Nvidia, rising to the position of vice president and general manager of its computing products business, before joining Arm in 2013. He is among several candidates being considered, but there is no guarantee that he will be offered the role or accept it, the report said.
Arm declined to comment, while Nvidia did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Why did Jensen Huang leave Nvidia?
Nvidia announced on November 12 that Huang had resigned as president, CEO and a member of its board with immediate effect. The decision brought an end to his 33-year leadership of the company, which he co-founded in 1993.
The resignation followed reports of multiple extramarital relationships, including one involving Alice Huang, a Singapore-based businesswoman whom US authorities suspected of having links to Chinese intelligence. Reports also emerged of relationships involving Nvidia employees.
Also read: ‘Broken and shattered’: Jensen Huang’s last hours as Nvidia CEO
Huang acknowledged being unfaithful to his wife in a message to employees and took responsibility for his actions. However, Nvidia’s official announcement did not specify a reason for his resignation.
The controversy had already prompted the company’s board to initiate an independent investigation on November 8, following reports that Huang had been the target of a foreign intelligence effort. The inquiry is being overseen by a committee of independent directors, assisted by outside legal counsel.
In its statement, Nvidia’s board said it had no reason to believe that US national security or the company’s trade secrets had been compromised. It added that Huang supported the review and had committed to cooperating with it.
The allegations also brought scrutiny to Nvidia’s business dealings in China and the movement of its advanced AI chips. Singapore’s authorities said they had investigated Alice Huang and her company, Megaspeed International, in connection with suspected irregularities involving chip shipments. Singapore said it had found insufficient evidence of offences, issued her a warning and barred her from returning to the country. The allegations of espionage have not been publicly established.
Nvidia shares face pressure amid leadership uncertainty
Huang’s exit has added to concerns about Nvidia’s leadership transition and the company’s position at the centre of the global artificial intelligence (AI) boom.
Nvidia shares fell 4.3% on November 12, after declining as much as 14% during the session, and another 3% on Friday, November 13, extending its losing streak to six weeks amid leadership uncertainty.