Musk Warns Nvidia Could Lose ‘Critical’ Deals Without Huang as 120,000 Sign Petition for His Return
Elon Musk warned on Saturday that Nvidia could lose some of its most important supply deals now that Jensen Huang is no longer its chief executive, arguing that many of the chipmaker’s key agreements rested on personal trust in Huang rather than on written contracts.
“Jensen drove supply chain brilliantly at Nvidia, but many of those deals were a handshake with Jensen, not a written contract. Without Jensen, at least some of those critical deals will be lost,” Musk wrote on X. The post, which Reuters described as warning about “critical” deals, came a day after Musk said he had signed a petition calling for Huang to be reinstated.
A petition and a push from big shareholders
The “Stand With Jensen” petition, a volunteer-run campaign unaffiliated with Nvidia or Huang, had passed 120,000 signatures by Saturday evening, according to Bitcoin.com. Organizers said the tally included more than 6,000 self-identified current Nvidia employees. At 10:30 a.m. ET on Saturday, the petition listed more than 100,000 names, Yahoo Finance reported. The organizers say they may review new signatures before adding them to the count, and the signers’ self-descriptions have not been independently verified.
The petition asks Nvidia’s board to reinstate Huang while an independent investigation establishes the facts, and to set out the investigation’s scope, independence and timeline and let Huang respond before any final decision.
Musk is not the only prominent voice urging the board to reconsider. Altimeter Capital and Atreides Management, which together held about $2.1 billion of Nvidia shares as of June 30, urged the board in a letter posted on X on November 13 to consider Huang’s return, CNBC reported. Altimeter chief executive Brad Gerstner posted the letter, which was also signed by Gavin Baker of Atreides Management. It asks directors to pursue a “slow, measured, and deliberate process” on leadership and to consider “the potential return of Jensen Huang.”
Altimeter held 9.4 million Nvidia shares worth nearly $1.9 billion at the end of June, making Nvidia its largest disclosed equity holding, according to CNBC. Atreides held 1.2 million shares worth nearly $250 million. The letter says interim chief executive Colette Kress will lead the company capably during the transition, and it does not call for Huang’s immediate reinstatement.
Why Musk says the deals are at risk
Musk was responding on X to an interview with SemiAnalysis analyst Dylan Patel about Nvidia’s supply chain. He praised Huang’s operational skill and argued that the chipmaker’s dominance depended heavily on Huang’s direct relationships across the semiconductor industry. According to the interview, Google is already pursuing computing capacity that Nvidia had locked down, Wccftech reported.
The warning lands at a sensitive moment. Nvidia reports quarterly results on Tuesday, November 17, under Kress, who served as chief financial officer for 13 years before taking the interim chief executive role. The board has said it has not yet chosen a search firm or formally engaged any candidates to succeed Huang, although it has been reported that Nvidia approached Arm chief executive Rene Haas as a possible successor.
Background: a resignation that shook the chipmaker
Huang resigned on November 12 as Nvidia’s president, chief executive and board member, ending a 33-year run leading the company he co-founded in 1993. Reuters reported that Jensen Huang misled Nvidia executives about his ties to Alice Huang, describing the contact as routine business dealings with a customer. His departure followed allegations about extramarital relationships, including one involving Alice Huang, an executive at Megaspeed, a chip buyer at the center of a U.S. export-control case. The board hired law firm Wachtell Lipton to investigate, and a federal counterintelligence probe is ongoing.
It is important to be clear about what has not been established. Reuters has reported that it has not independently verified whether Alice Huang worked for the Chinese government, and U.S. intelligence assessments reported by CNN say the evidence so far does not prove she spied for Beijing. Huang has not been charged with any crime, and the allegations remain unproven.
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The market reaction has been severe. Nvidia’s stock fell 11 percent in the week through Thursday’s close, its sixth straight weekly decline and its longest losing streak since 2012, CNBC reported, wiping out roughly $1.6 trillion in market value over six weeks. On Friday the shares closed at $162.85, down 12.75 percent for the week, according to MarketWatch and Dow Jones Market Data.
Why this matters
Nvidia sits at the center of the global artificial intelligence boom, supplying the advanced chips that power data centers for companies including Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Meta. If key supply agreements really were built on Huang’s personal relationships, as Musk argues, the leadership transition could affect the company’s ability to secure manufacturing capacity and components at a moment when demand for AI hardware is intense.
For shareholders, the pressure campaign cuts both ways. A quick return for Huang could steady the stock, but the board’s investigation into the circumstances of his departure is still unresolved. A drawn-out search, meanwhile, leaves the world’s most valuable chipmaker without a permanent chief executive as it heads into earnings week.
Latest developments
- Musk posted his “critical deals” warning on X on Saturday, November 14, one day after saying he had signed the “Stand With Jensen” petition.
- The petition passed 120,000 signatures on Saturday, with organizers reporting more than 6,000 self-identified current Nvidia employees among the signers.
- Altimeter Capital and Atreides Management, holding about $2.1 billion of Nvidia stock combined, asked the board to consider Huang’s return in a letter posted on X on November 13.
- Nvidia reports quarterly results on Tuesday, November 17, under interim chief executive Colette Kress.
- The board has not formally engaged any successor candidate, and Huang is scheduled to brief a House committee on Wednesday, November 18, though that timing is now uncertain.
Frequently asked questions
What did Elon Musk say about Nvidia and Jensen Huang?
Musk wrote on X that Huang “drove supply chain brilliantly at Nvidia” but that many deals were “a handshake with Jensen, not a written contract,” adding: “Without Jensen, at least some of those critical deals will be lost.” He had said the day before that he was signing a petition to reinstate Huang.
How many people have signed the “Stand With Jensen” petition?
The volunteer-run petition passed 120,000 signatures by Saturday evening, November 14, according to Bitcoin.com, including more than 6,000 self-identified current Nvidia employees. The figures are self-reported by organizers and have not been independently verified.
Which investors are asking Nvidia to consider bringing Huang back?
Altimeter Capital, led by Brad Gerstner, and Atreides Management, led by Gavin Baker, urged the board in a November 13 letter to consider Huang’s return. Together they held about $2.1 billion of Nvidia shares as of June 30. They asked for a deliberate search rather than immediate reinstatement.
When does Nvidia report earnings?
Nvidia reports quarterly results on Tuesday, November 17, under interim chief executive Colette Kress. The results will be the company’s first since Huang’s resignation on November 12.
The pressure on Nvidia’s board is now coming from three directions at once: the world’s richest person, two large shareholders, and more than 120,000 petition signers. Whether the board bends will become clearer after Tuesday’s earnings, when Kress faces investors for the first time as interim chief executive.
Sources: Wccftech; Bitcoin.com; AI Affairs; Nakoda AI, citing Reuters.
