Musk says hiring Jensen Huang would be an honor as Nvidia board weighs his ouster

Musk's reply on X

Elon Musk replied on X on Wednesday, 11 November, to a post asking him to hire Jensen Huang, the chief executive of Nvidia. The request was published by Zerohedge and asked Musk to hire Jensen, which drew wide attention across the technology sector. Musk answered in English with a single line, and the exchange quickly became the centre of a broader leadership story at the chipmaker. Reports noted that Musk, who heads Tesla and founded SpaceX, has been moving further into building infrastructure for artificial intelligence. None of the reports describes any contact between the two men.

“That would be an honor.”

Board review and the relationships

The reply came after reports that Nvidia's board was considering removing Jensen Huang from the chief executive role. The Wall Street Journal reported that directors were preparing to discuss his future at the company, following reports of alleged extramarital relationships and questions about his personal contacts. Several reports said the board had met to deliberate. Jensen Huang has led Nvidia for 33 years, and reports credited him with steering the company from graphics cards for video games toward chips built for artificial intelligence. Some reports said Colette Kress, the chief financial officer, could be named interim chief executive while a successor is chosen, but these were rumours that no official source confirmed.

Alice Huang and espionage allegations

Jensen Huang admitted an extramarital relationship with Alice Huang, a business executive linked to Megaspeed, which is based in Singapore. The New York Times reported on 29 October that Alice Huang allegedly passed information to Beijing for espionage purposes. US authorities are reported to suspect that she had contacts with Chinese intelligence services, but those suspicions do not amount to confirmed espionage. Reports also noted that US rules bar Nvidia from exporting its artificial intelligence chips to China, which made the relationship particularly sensitive.

Second relationship and Washington reaction

The New York Times then reported, citing five former employees, that Jensen Huang had a relationship with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia's vice president for its healthcare division. The paper reported that both were married and that the relationship was known inside the company but had not been reported in the press before. Kimberly Powell has worked at Nvidia since 2008 and coordinated programmes on the use of chips in higher education and healthcare. Senator Kevin Cramer, a Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, told CNBC on Wednesday, 11 November, that Jensen Huang should step down. Lawmakers from both parties followed, with Democrat Suhas Subramanyam and Republican Don Bacon also calling for his departure.

Market impact and company response

Nvidia shares fell more than 8% in trading after the US market closed, once the reports emerged. Nvidia said it would launch an independent investigation after reports that its founder and chief executive had been the target of foreign espionage activity. Jensen Huang wrote to employees backing the inquiry started by the board and said he owed apologies to his family and colleagues. The articles do not report a board decision on Jensen Huang's position, and the company's next steps remain unannounced in these reports.