A petition urging Nvidia’s board to reinstate Jensen Huang has passed 100,000 signatures, and 5,248 signers say they’re current employees.
Signers include Elon Musk, Epic Games’ Tim Sweeney, and Y Combinator’s Garry Tan. Huang resigned as CEO on 12 November, and CFO Colette Kress is interim CEO. Implicator reports the board hasn’t answered the petition, and no board reply has been reported at the time of writing.
The 100,000 mark and the 5,248 figure come from The Information, which reported them on Saturday 14 November. By Saturday afternoon, TechCrunch reported more than 115,000 signatures, with the petition site listing 5,965 current employees, 1,108 former employees, and 63,063 shareholders. The names are self-reported, and nothing independently confirms the employee count. According to a Washington Post report cited by Peter Theil’s roundup, the campaign is “actively working” to remove fake signatures.
What the petition asks for
Signers say they’re “concerned that Jensen was removed without meaningful due process”. According to TechCrunch, signers want the board to “bring him back while an independent investigation establishes the facts”.
According to Moneywise, the Stand with Jensen letter also asks the board to disclose the scope, independence and timeline of its investigation. It also asks the board to give Huang a chance to respond before any final decision, and to publicly explain the evidence behind his removal. TechCrunch also lists Replit CEO Amjad Masad among the supporters.
Musk posted on X on 13 November: “A petition is underway to reinstate Jensen and I’m signing it too.” According to Moneywise, SpaceX has committed to building its AI data centres exclusively with Nvidia chips, and Nvidia owns a stake in SpaceX worth billions.
Staff and investors
The pushback began inside the company. Wired reviewed internal correspondence showing that a longtime engineer posted to Nvidia’s suggestion box, urging the board to weigh employee sentiment before acting. The post drew more than 1,600 comments, several asking the board to find a way to bring Huang back.
Nvidia is Nvidia because of Jensen.
An Nvidia employee, to Wired
According to Moneywise, about two dozen employees posted support on LinkedIn, and it couldn’t find any employee posts backing his departure. A separate Blind poll of 1,689 professionals found 60% wanted Huang to remain CEO.
On Friday, Altimeter Capital’s Brad Gerstner and Atreides Management’s Gavin Baker wrote to the board, according to MLQ.ai. Their letter asks the board not to “rush to replace Jensen”. It says that if the board decides against bringing him back “after all the facts are known”, then “that is the Board’s prerogative”. The letter also says Nvidia “will be capably led in the interim” by Kress.
Where the board stands
At the resignation, board chair Harvey Jones said the board has “full confidence in Colette and the leadership team”. Nvidia named Jones its first-ever board chair and said it would consider internal and external candidates for permanent CEO.
According to Implicator, independent directors retained Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz on 10 November for an outside board investigation led by Joon H. Kim, a former acting US attorney for the Southern District of New York. No timeline has been given.
Huang has admitted to an affair, writing to staff that he had been “unfaithful to [his] wife” and that there was “no excuse”. According to Moneywise, neither he nor Nvidia has been charged with any wrongdoing so far.
Pressure from Washington and the market
According to Moneywise, three House committee chairs have asked Huang to sit for a closed-door, transcribed interview on 1 December. Senate Banking Committee chair Tim Scott has separately asked him to testify on 3 December. It’s unclear whether Huang has confirmed in writing.
BigGo reports that Nvidia shares fell as much as 14.3% on 12 November and closed down 5.2%. Nvidia will report fiscal third-quarter results on 17 November.
