Some people aren’t ready to let former CEO Jensen Huang go.
A petition to reinstate Huang as Nvidia’s CEO has over 108,000 signatures as of Saturday morning, including prominent tech leaders such as billionaire Elon Musk and Replit CEO Amjad Masad. Both executives promoted the petition on X.
A website for the campaign, dubbed “Stand with Jensen,” said the list includes more than 58,000 shareholders, more than 5,600 current Nvidia employees, and over 1,000 former employees.
It also, to be fair, included “Tim Cruise, Hollywood actor” and “Xi Jingping,” a possibly misspelled reference to the Chinese leader. In an X post on Saturday, the organizers said they were “actively working” to remove fake signatures.
One Nvidia employee who signed the letter told Business Insider that similar efforts are happening inside the company. A post with similar sentiments appeared on an internal portal where employees can submit questions and suggestions, they said.
Wired reported that the post had garnered 1,600 comments as of Thursday — a figure that has now more than doubled, the employee said.
Earlier this week, Nvidia’s board of directors said it opened an investigation into whether Huang was the “target of a foreign intelligence effort” after he admitted to having an affair in a letter to staffers. Days later, Huang resigned after reports he had another affair with an Nvidia executive, and the board appointed Colette Kress, executive vice president and chief financial officer, as interim CEO until they find a permanent successor.
An October report by The New York Times said Huang had developed a “close relationship” with Alice Huang, a tech executive at Megaspeed in Singapore. The Times reported that US intelligence officials said she may be a spy for the Chinese government. China has since denied that claim. On Thursday, Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Department of Justice had not concluded whether Alice Huang was a spy.
The “Stand with Jensen” organizers said in an open letter to Nvidia’s board posted to its website that they believe the board removed Huang without an investigation and “meaningful due process.”
“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,” they said.
The organizers say they want Huang to remain CEO while the investigation continues.
“Disclose its scope and timeline, give him a meaningful opportunity to respond, and provide a clear, evidence-based explanation demonstrating that any removal is in NVIDIA’s best interests. The campaign does not treat espionage allegations as proven facts or presume the inquiry’s findings,” the organizers said.
The Nvidia employee who spoke to Business Insider said that despite any mistakes Huang had made, he was a singular leader in the vein of Steve Jobs or Elon Musk. He 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.
The employee suggested Huang should face an investigation and potential consequences for his conduct, but that the board should preserve a path for his return.
The “Stand with Jensen” petition also garnered signatures from big names such as Boom Supersonic CEO Blake Scholl and Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan. A signatory who describes himself as an engineer at Nvidia called Huang an “essential part” of the company in a comment on the website.
“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,” the employee said.
Separately, two notable Nvidia investors wrote a letter to the board of directors on Friday, urging it to take 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 Barker wrote.
In a statement, Nvidia’s board of directors said it will consider internal and external candidates in its quest to replace Huang, who cofounded the company and served as CEO for over three decades. The board has not publicly identified a new CEO, but the names of potential candidates have begun to surface among analysts and investors.
