Jensen Huang is considering a return to Nvidia’s chief executive role as Silicon Valley allies pressure the company’s board to reinstate him days after the tech chief resigned amid reports he had dealings with an alleged Chinese spy and subordinate.
Huang has discussed with confidants the possibility of returning, according to several people familiar with the matter — even as an independent investigation by Nvidia’s board probes conduct that led this week to a spectacular leadership crisis at the $4 trillion chip company.
A Huang ally told the FT they were setting up a “war room” of Silicon Valley executives to push for the former Nvidia chief’s return and would try to gain support from the White House.
“Everyone who matters in technology outside the border labs loves Jensen,” they said. These efforts benefit from Huang’s support, they added.
A public campaign to reinstate Nvidia’s CEO gained momentum over the weekend. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, and Tim Sweeney, chief executive of Epic Games, were among the executives who supported a public letter demanding that his board “bring back Jensen.”
Huang continues to enjoy fierce loyalty from some employees, several of whom publicly called for his return in the days after his resignation and signed the open letter.
Efforts to reinstate the CEO are likely to face pushback from top policymakers in Washington, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent calling Sunday for a “drastic shakeup” of the company’s leadership following Huang’s departure.
Huang, who did not have the majority ownership of other founder-CEOs and therefore could not overturn a board decision, also faces a board and management team now led by interim chief executive Colette Kress that aims to stabilize the company before Tuesday’s quarterly results release.
Huang’s affair with Alice Huang, an executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed, triggered closer scrutiny of Nvidia’s compliance measures when selling its AI chips to customers in Asia with potential ties to China.
Even the allies did not know how to restore Huang’s reputation. “Having an affair with a subordinate is a criminal offense,” admitted one person involved in efforts to reinstate Huang.
The FT reported on Friday that Arm CEO René Haas had been approached by Nvidia’s board as a potential successor. Nvidia’s board said no “formal” process had been initiated.
Altimeter Capital founder Brad Gerstner and Atreides Management boss Gavin Baker, who are Nvidia shareholders, released an open letter to the board on Friday urging them to leave “all options on the table, including the potential return of Jensen Huang.”
The two men, both large investors in the company, cited “the extraordinary success of Jensen Huang’s leadership over an extended period of time and given the massive uncertainty associated with recent events surrounding his departure” as reasons for showing leniency.
An Nvidia spokesperson and a spokesperson for Huang declined to comment.
