Jensen Huang may not be finished with Nvidia after all. Just three days after resigning as chief executive of the chipmaker he founded more than three decades ago, Huang is considering a return to the top job, the Financial Times reported on Sunday, in a twist that has stunned Silicon Valley and Washington alike.
Huang has discussed the possibility with close confidants even as the board’s investigation into his conduct continues, according to people familiar with the matter cited by the paper. Allies in the technology industry are already mobilising to press Nvidia’s board to bring him back, and one supporter told the newspaper they were putting together a “war room” of tech executives to lobby for his reinstatement and to seek support from the White House. The ally said the effort had Huang’s backing.
The report lands at an extraordinary moment for the world’s most valuable chipmaker. Nvidia is due to publish its quarterly results on Tuesday, its first since Huang’s exit, and the company has reportedly lost more than 1.2 trillion dollars in market value since the scandal broke in late October. Its shares plunged 13 per cent when trading opened on the Thursday of his resignation.
Why Huang Left
Huang stepped down on November 12, ending a 33-year run at the helm of the company he co-founded in 1993. His resignation followed revelations of extramarital affairs, including one with a subordinate who reported to him directly and another with Alice Huang, a former executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed who is suspected of being a Chinese spy.
The affair with Alice Huang raised questions that went far beyond the chief executive’s private life. Megaspeed is under investigation by the United States Justice Department over claims that it diverted restricted Nvidia artificial intelligence chips to China. Huang and other Nvidia officials have agreed to testify before three committees of the House of Representatives, covering foreign affairs, intelligence and China.
Nvidia moved quickly to steady the company after the resignation. Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress was named interim chief executive, and she has scheduled a company-wide meeting for Wednesday as the management team works to stabilise the business ahead of the earnings report. The board has said it is choosing a search firm, although the Financial Times reported on Friday that it had already approached Rene Haas, chief executive of the British chip designer Arm, as a possible successor.
Support and Resistance
The campaign to bring Huang back has gathered pace with remarkable speed. A public letter demanding that the board “Bring Jensen Back” has been backed by Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX, by Tim Sweeney, chief executive of Epic Games, and by several Nvidia employees. Musk wrote on social media on Friday that he was signing the petition, which has since attracted more than 135,000 signatures. Major shareholders have added their voices too. Brad Gerstner of Altimeter Capital and Gavin Baker of Atreides Management urged the board in an open letter on Friday to keep “all options on the table, including the potential return of Jensen Huang.”
The support reflects how closely Huang’s name is tied to Nvidia’s rise. Under his leadership the company grew from a maker of graphics chips for video games into the dominant supplier of the processors that power the artificial intelligence boom, reaching a market value of around four trillion dollars before the scandal. For many in Silicon Valley, that record makes him irreplaceable.
But the comeback push also faces open resistance in Washington, where the scandal has become entangled with national security and the politics of chip exports to China. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called on Sunday for a “dramatic shake-up” in Nvidia’s leadership and said the company should hire an outside chief executive. Speaking on Fox News Sunday Morning Futures, he said he wanted to know whether Nvidia had used shell companies to dodge export controls. Even one person backing the effort admitted that “having an affair with a subordinate is a fireable offence,” a reminder that the board’s investigation may yet close the door on any comeback.
Huang himself holds no controlling stake in Nvidia and cannot overrule its board. Only the directors can appoint a chief executive, and they must balance the demands of shareholders who want their founder back against the findings of their own investigation and the pressure from Washington. For now, neither Huang nor Nvidia has commented publicly on the Financial Times report.
What happens next will become clearer in the coming days. Tuesday’s quarterly results will be the first test of the company under Kress, and investors will be listening for any hint of how the board sees the leadership question. If the numbers are strong, the board may feel it has room to take its time; if they disappoint, the calls to bring Huang back could grow louder still. Either way, the fate of one of the most important companies in the world now rests on a decision that must weigh a founder’s extraordinary record against a scandal that has already cost shareholders more than a trillion dollars.
