Musk Says Hiring Jensen Huang Would Be an Honor as Nvidia Board Weighs His Future

Elon Musk said it would be an honor to hire Jensen Huang, as Nvidia board met to decide whether to remove its co-founder and chief executive officer over his relationships with a woman US officials suspect of spying for China and with a company executive. That would be an honor, Musk wrote on X on Wednesday evening, replying to a post by user Zero Hedge that read: Elon please hire Jensen. Musk, who runs Tesla and SpaceX, did not say what role he had in mind or whether he had spoken to Huang.

The reply came hours after the Wall Street Journal reported that Nvidia board was preparing to force Huang out, and minutes after the New York Times reported that he had a romantic relationship with an Nvidia executive. CNBC confirmed late on Wednesday that the board was meeting to decide his future. About half an hour after his reply, Musk also backed investor Gavin Baker, who wrote that large shareholders and partners were calling him to say Nvidia board should wait for the results of the investigation before ousting Jensen. Musk answered with a 100 emoji, and replied Exactly to a call for a shareholder vote after the investigation is complete.

Huang told Nvidia staff in a note on Sunday that he had been unfaithful to his wife, writing: I take full responsibility for what I did and the hurt I caused. The Financial Times had reported that US intelligence believed Huang was in a romantic relationship with Alice Huang, an executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed, which buys Nvidia chips. The two are not related. The New York Times reported on October 29 that US spy agencies had watched her for about a year, and later that US officials believe she is a spy for China Ministry of State Security. China Ministry of Foreign Affairs has called the allegation purely groundless speculation.

Nvidia board said on November 8 that a committee of independent directors, assisted by outside counsel, would investigate reports that Huang had been the target of a foreign intelligence effort, hiring the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen and Katz to lead the inquiry. The board said it had no reason to believe that either national security or Nvidia secrets were compromised, and that it had confidence in Jensen and his leadership team. As of early Thursday, Nvidia had not announced a decision. Nvidia shares closed up 2.9 percent at 173.73 dollars on Wednesday, then fell more than 9 percent in after-hours trading, and were down 6.9 percent at 161.81 dollars in premarket trading on Thursday. Nvidia is due to report quarterly results on Tuesday, November 17.