Elon Musk joins 100,000 petition signers demanding Nvidia reinstate Jensen Huang

Source	Total signatures	Shareholders	Current Nvidia employees	Former Nvidia employees	As of
Yahoo Finance / Moneywise	100,000+	—	5,000+	—	10:30 a.m. ET, Nov. 14
Crypto Briefing	100,000+	53,000+	6,200 (current and former)	,	Not specified
Yahoo Finance UK / Business Insider	108,000+	58,000+	5,600+	1,000+	Saturday afternoon (Nov. 14)
Nine.com.au	116,000+	63,000+	,	,	Nov. 15 (AEDT)

### From resignation to revolt Nvidia announced Huang's resignation on 12 November, effective immediately, after the board accepted it on 11 November. Colette Kress, the longtime chief financial officer, was named interim chief executive, and director Harvey Jones became the board's first-ever chair. The move followed reports that Huang had engaged in extramarital relationships, including one with Alice Huang (no relation), a former executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed whom U.S. Intelligence officials reportedly suspected of being recruited by China's top spy agency. Huang has admitted to an affair. Neither he nor Nvidia has been charged with any wrongdoing. The board said it opened an investigation into whether Huang was the "target of a foreign intelligence effort" after his admission. Days later, Reuters reported a third affair with a second Nvidia employee, and The New York Times identified a second relationship with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia's vice president of health care. Huang issued a lengthy apology to employees, shareholders and his wife of more than 40 years before stepping down. The "Stand with Jensen" letter asks the board to "bring Jensen back while an independent investigation establishes the facts, unless and until you can provide compelling evidence that his removal is in NVIDIA's best interests." Beyond reinstatement, signers demand the board disclose the scope, independence and timeline of its investigation, give Huang a chance to respond before any final decision, and publicly explain the evidence behind his removal. "We have not been shown evidence substantiating the espionage allegation. After thirty-three years pouring his heart and soul into NVIDIA, Jensen deserves due process, not mob justice," the organisers wrote. ### Musk's stake and the Silicon Valley chorus Musk posted on X on 13 November: "A petition is underway to reinstate Jensen and I'm signing it too." He is listed at the top of the petition as a shareholder, alongside Replit CEO Amjad Masad; Gavin Baker, managing partner of Atreides Management; Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney; and Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan. Cohere's Aidan Gomez and Serve Robotics CEO Ali Kashani are listed as partners. Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke replied "You have my sword" to Musk's post, though his name did not initially appear on the list. Other signatories include Boom Supersonic CEO Blake Scholl and Fundstrat's Tom Lee. Musk's involvement is not purely sentimental. SpaceX has committed to building its AI data centres exclusively with Nvidia chips, and Nvidia owns a stake in SpaceX worth billions. "Jensen drove supply chain brilliantly at Nvidia, but many of those deals were a handshake with Jensen, not a written contract," Musk said. "Without Jensen, at least some of those critical deals will be lost. If Jensen gave me his word about compute delivery, or I asked for components to be accelerated, he always came through. Sure, we'd put together a purchase order at some point later, but I never for a second thought it wouldn't happen." The two go back years. In May, Musk replied "True" to a repost of photos of the pair taken a decade apart, captioned "The most important thing in life is having true friends." On the night of 11 November, before Huang resigned, Musk replied "That would be an honor" to a ZeroHedge post urging him to hire Huang. The next day, he answered "True words" to AngelList co-founder Naval Ravikant, who wrote that "one does not just simply replace the founder," pointing to Steve Jobs and Travis Kalanick. When Ravikant called Huang "the Steve Jobs of Nvidia" and "irreplaceable," Musk replied "True." He also replied "Always" to a post praising him for being a true friend to Huang. ### Inside the company The pushback started inside Nvidia. A longtime engineer posted to the company's internal suggestion box urging the board to weigh employee sentiment before acting, according to internal correspondence reviewed by Wired. The post drew more than 1,600 comments by Thursday, several asking the board to find a way to bring Huang back; an employee told Business Insider the figure has since more than doubled. One employee sent a company-wide email demanding transparency about Huang's exit, writing: "I stand by Jensen." About two dozen employees posted support on LinkedIn, and Moneywise could not find any employee posts backing his departure. "Nvidia is Nvidia because of Jensen," one employee told Wired. An Nvidia engineer who signed the petition wrote: "His private affairs are none of my business, and if his actions violated our code of conduct, it has to be dealt with. Please bring him back and give him fair treatment, taking his track record and importance for NVIDIA and the wider community into account." Another employee told Business Insider that despite any mistakes Huang had made, he was a singular leader in the vein of Steve Jobs or Elon Musk who gave employees a "surge of motivation" and surprised them with new ideas and products. "Nvidia is not doomed without him, but it would not be the same," they said, suggesting Huang should face an investigation and potential consequences for his conduct, but that the board should preserve a path for his return. ### Investor pressure On Friday, two notable Nvidia investors wrote a letter to the board urging a "measured" approach to future leadership, even if that means Huang returns as CEO. "We believe the Board should avoid a rush to replace Jensen that undermines and thwarts the best interests of stakeholders," Altimeter Capital Management CEO Brad Gerstner and Atreides Management Managing Partner Gavin Baker wrote. Market participants appear to view the petition as decreasing the likelihood of Kress becoming the permanent CEO, with betting odds reflecting a shift in sentiment, according to Crypto Briefing. Nvidia's board said in a statement it will consider internal and external candidates in its quest to replace Huang. The board has not publicly identified a new CEO, though the Financial Times reported it had approached Arm CEO Rene Haas; on 13 November the board said it was still selecting a search firm and had not formally engaged any potential candidates. ### Washington's scrutiny The controversy has drawn congressional attention. Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Huang agreed to come in. Three House committee chairs then asked him to sit for a closed-door, transcribed interview on 1 December, giving him until 8 p.m. ET on 13 November to confirm or face a subpoena. It was not immediately clear whether Huang had confirmed in writing by the deadline. Senate Banking Committee chair Tim Scott, R-S.C., has separately asked Huang to testify on 3 December. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, whom Scott also called to testify, has agreed to appear. Attorney General Todd Blanche said on 12 November there had been "no conclusions reached by the Department of Justice, or by me" about whether Alice Huang was a spy, according to Reuters. Beijing has denied that she is one, and President Donald Trump has said it isn't yet clear either way. Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs said on 12 November that she has been barred from re-entering the country since February amid an investigation into possible offenses tied to Megaspeed, though it said that investigation did not concern espionage. Even the White House has weighed in on both sides. President Donald Trump called Huang on Tuesday urging him to fight for his job, The New York Times reported. After Huang resigned, Trump posted on Truth Social that there was "only one man to take his place": Apple chairman Tim Cook. ### Market reaction and what comes next Nvidia shares dropped as much as 14 per cent on Thursday before recovering to 5.5 per cent down at the close, pushing the company's market value toward closing below US$4 trillion for the first time since July 2025, a paper loss of over US$1 trillion. The company is continuing its own investigation into Huang, according to The Information. Washington's scrutiny also goes beyond Huang himself: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has questioned whether Nvidia knew who it was selling chips to. There is recent precedent for a swift reversal. In November 2023, OpenAI's board fired CEO Sam Altman, then reached a deal to bring him back about five days later after hundreds of employees threatened to quit. "Sam Altman came back within five days, so there's still time to see how this unfolds," Moneywise noted. "The clock is ticking until Nvidia's Tuesday earnings call." ### What to watch next - **Nvidia earnings call (Tuesday, 17 November):** Interim CEO Colette Kress will face analysts' questions about the leadership vacuum, the investigation, and the petition's implications. - **Congressional deadlines:** Huang's response to the House committees' 13 November deadline for a 1 December transcribed interview; Senate Banking Committee hearing scheduled for 3 December. - **Board search process:** The board said on 13 November it was still selecting a search firm and had not formally engaged candidates. Any announcement of a permanent CEO, or a decision to retain Huang, would be a pivotal signal. - **Investigation transparency:** Whether the board discloses the scope, independence and timeline of its probe, as the petition demands. - **Employee sentiment:** The internal suggestion-box thread and LinkedIn activity suggest organised internal pressure; a formal employee letter or walkout threat would echo the OpenAI precedent.

Media additions

Elon Musk joins 100,000+ signers on a petition to reinstate Jensen Huang — including 5,000+ who say they work at Nvidia