Elon Musk Says Hiring Jensen Huang 'Would Be an Honor' as Nvidia Board Meets to Decide Embattled CEO's Fate

Elon Musk said he would be honored to hire Nvidia Corp. Chief Executive Jensen Huang, publicly backing the chipmaker's co-founder as Nvidia's board met to decide whether to remove him.

"That would be an honor," Musk wrote on X late Wednesday, replying to a user who posted, "Elon please hire Jensen."

The comment from Musk, chief executive of SpaceX and Tesla, came hours after The Wall Street Journal reported that Nvidia's board was preparing to oust Huang. The report followed allegations that Huang had two extramarital affairs, including one with a woman U.S. officials suspect of being a Chinese spy.

Nvidia's board met late Wednesday to decide Huang's future, according to Reuters and CNBC. Nvidia did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the meeting, and no decision had been announced as of early Thursday.

Musk's earlier support

It is not the first time Musk has publicly backed Huang during the scandal.

On Nov. 9, Musk endorsed a post by Sequoia Capital partner Shaun Maguire about Huang. "Two mistakes don't make a right, and I believe Jensen is irreplaceable for America's AI leadership," Maguire wrote.

Musk quote-posted it with two words: "I agree."

Maguire also said in his post that Huang "did something incredibly dumb" and that it "was bad for America."

Not everyone agrees that Huang is irreplaceable. Some analysts and governance experts have warned that treating any executive as indispensable can lead companies to overlook serious risks.

Close business ties

Musk's support reflects deep business ties between his companies and Nvidia.

Nvidia owns about 122.8 million Class A shares of SpaceX, according to a regulatory filing. The stake came from Nvidia's $10 billion investment in Musk's artificial intelligence company xAI in January. SpaceX acquired xAI in February in an all-stock deal valued at about $1.25 trillion.

The stake was worth about $18 billion in late October, making SpaceX one of Nvidia's largest disclosed equity holdings.

SpaceX has also committed to a $40 billion lease for Nvidia chips and related equipment. In August, Musk laid out a plan to build SpaceX's next-generation AI infrastructure on Nvidia chips, including a planned space-based data center.

Tesla and xAI have also been major buyers of Nvidia's graphics processors for training AI models.

Some observers say a leadership change at Nvidia could raise uncertainty about the future of those partnerships.

Scandal deepens

The crisis began Oct. 29, when The New York Times reported that Huang had a close relationship with Alice Huang. She is a former executive at Singapore-based Nvidia customer Megaspeed, and U.S. intelligence officials believe she is a Chinese spy. The two are not related.

On Sunday, Huang acknowledged being unfaithful to his wife in a memo to staff. "There is no excuse for what I did," he wrote.

Nvidia's board launched an independent investigation the same day. "While the Board has no reason to believe that either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised, the Board's inquiry will examine all available information," the board said.

On Wednesday, the Times reported that Huang also had an extramarital relationship with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia's vice president of health care, who reports directly to him. Nvidia, Huang and Powell have not confirmed that report.

China has denied the spying allegations.

Succession questions

Nvidia has no named successor to Huang, who co-founded the company in 1993 and has led it for 33 years. He owns about 3.6% of the company's stock.

Bloomberg reported that Nvidia is working with an outside firm to explore potential replacements. Some directors reportedly favor Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress as interim CEO, while analysts have floated Ian Buck, a longtime Nvidia executive known for creating the CUDA software platform, and Arm CEO Rene Haas as other candidates.

"Huang being removed immediately could be challenging for Nvidia since it does not have a succession plan in place," said Gil Luria, head of technology research at D.A. Davidson.

Political support

Huang has also received support from President Donald Trump, who called him "an honorable guy" who had "done an amazing job for our country." Trump said he had not discussed the allegations with Huang.

Lawmakers have taken a harder line. Three Republican House committee chairs have asked Huang to attend a closed-door briefing by Nov. 18 about his contacts with Alice Huang, and he could face a subpoena if he does not respond.

Market fallout

Nvidia shares fell more than 9% in after-hours trading Wednesday after the Journal's report. Including that drop, the company has lost about $600 billion in market value this week, according to Reuters.

Nvidia also faces a securities lawsuit accusing the company of failing to disclose information to shareholders about Huang's relationship with the alleged spy, CBS News reported.

The turmoil comes days before Nvidia's fiscal third-quarter earnings report, scheduled for Nov. 17.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.