Elon Musk backs calls to bring Jensen Huang back to Nvidia, says he would sign a petition

Tesla and SpaceX chief Elon Musk has voiced support for demands to reinstate Nvidia co-founder Jensen Huang as chief executive officer (CEO). According to a Reuters report, Musk has said he is willing to sign any petition organised to demand Huang's reinstatement.

Earlier, replying to a user's suggestion on the social media platform X, Musk said that being able to hire Jensen Huang at his own company would be a matter of 'great honour' for him. However, it is not yet clear whether he was referring to the internal initiative by Nvidia employees reported by the technology magazine Wired.

Jensen Huang resigned as Nvidia's president and CEO on 12 November after leading the company for 33 years. Since co-founding the company in 1993, he turned Nvidia into one of the world's leading technology powers, and his three decades of leadership are closely tied to the identity and growth of the company at the centre of the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution.

While demands for Huang's return have grown, Nvidia's board of directors has also begun the process of finding a permanent new CEO. Reuters, citing the Financial Times, reported that Nvidia's board has contacted Rene Haas, chief executive of chip design firm Arm Holdings, as a possible successor.

Before joining Arm in 2013, Rene Haas worked at Nvidia for seven years and rose to vice-president and general manager of the company's computing products division. He became Arm's CEO in 2022 and oversaw the company's listing on the Nasdaq in 2023.

There is still no certainty, however, over whether Rene Haas will formally be offered the post or whether he would accept it. Nvidia's board has said it is in the process of selecting an executive search firm and has not yet formally offered the position to any candidate. It described speculation over specific names as 'premature'.

Nvidia's chief financial officer (CFO), Colette Kress, is currently serving as interim CEO. Besides Rene Haas, other names in discussion as possible permanent CEOs include senior Nvidia engineer Ian Buck, AMD CEO Lisa Su, Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra, Marvell chief Matt Murphy and Apple's hardware chief Johny Srouji.

Despite Elon Musk's support and demands from a section of employees, Nvidia's board has so far given no indication of changing its decision.