Internal communications reviewed by Wired reveal that some employees at NVIDIA are calling on the company's board of directors to bring Jensen Huang back. A few days ago, Jensen Huang resigned from his position as CEO following reports of an extramarital affair in the media.
According to a report from Wired, an engineer with long-term tenure submitted an internal "suggestion box" post before Jensen Huang's resignation, urging the board of directors to consider the employees' feelings before taking any action. Since then, the post has received over 1,600 comments, several of which called on the board to find a way to reinstate Jensen Huang. One person wrote anonymously, "If you believe in this mission, bring the boss back."
This post also calls on the board of directors to share the investigation results with employees and formally seek their opinions on whether Jensen Huang should continue to serve as CEO. Another employee went a step further by sending an email to the entire company, requesting transparency regarding Jensen Huang's resignation and stating, "I support Jensen Huang."
Within hours of Jensen Huang's resignation, approximately over twenty NVIDIA employees posted messages of support on LinkedIn; however, Wired claimed that they could not find any employee posts supporting his departure. The engineer who posted this "suggestion box" message refused to comment, and neither NVIDIA nor its new chairman, Harvey Jones (former CEO of Synopsys), immediately responded to the media.
Jensen Huang resigns
Jensen Huang resigned from his positions as President, CEO, and Board Member of NVIDIA on Thursday, bringing to an end a 33-year tenure that began when he co-founded the company. Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress is currently serving in an interim CEO role, while Jones has become the first chairperson of the Board of Directors. NVIDIA did not provide a reason for Jensen Huang's resignation.
Jensen Huang told his employees on Sunday that he was "unfaithful" to his wife, but he did not name anyone specifically.
In a report in October, The New York Times stated that surveillance of Alice Huang (also known as Huang Le) indicated that she developed a “close relationship” with this NVIDIA CEO. According to the newspaper, American officials identified her as a Chinese intelligence asset; meanwhile, The Financial Times reported that a U.S. memorandum mentioned that the two had had a romantic relationship. The Chinese side denies that she is a spy.
The Singapore Ministry of Home Affairs stated on Thursday that Alice Huang once served as the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Megaspeed. Megaspeed is a client of NVIDIA based in Singapore. The ministry said that she is under investigation by the Singapore police for possible false declarations related to company server purchases, but she is not being investigated for espionage activities.
The department stated that the police found insufficient evidence to prove that she had committed any crimes, but determined that she knowingly provided inaccurate information to the police in order to downplay her role in Megaspeed. She subsequently received a severe warning, left Singapore in February, and was prohibited from returning. The investigation into Megaspeed and six other individuals is still ongoing.
Bloomberg reported that Alice Huang currently resides in Beijing, and this is known to security officials. Reuters, citing sources familiar with the matter, reported that U.S. Attorney General Todd Branche stated on Thursday that the Department of Justice has not yet reached a conclusion as to whether Jensen Huang is a spy, and that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is investigating the relevant reports. Reuters said they were unable to contact her for comment.
On Wednesday, The New York Times reported that Jensen Huang also has a relationship with Kimberly Powell, the vice president of NVIDIA's healthcare business, who reports directly to him. Powell has not yet commented on this.
On Thursday, Reuters cited two people familiar with the matter as reporting that Jensen Huang also has a close relationship with another NVIDIA employee, but did not disclose the name. NVIDIA refused to comment on this with Reuters, and neither Jensen Huang nor representatives of the board of directors responded. According to Wired, since the email sent to employees on Sunday, Jensen Huang has not made any further comments regarding these reports.
Support from outside of NVIDIA
Voices within NVIDIA also echo the criticism from technology and cryptocurrency industry insiders regarding the board of directors' decision. Zhao Changpeng ( CZ ), co-founder of Binance, stated that letting Jensen Huang resign was a mistake; Elon Musk, on the other hand, said it would be an "honour" to hire him.
Jensen Huang still faces scrutiny in Washington. A congressional committee has requested that he attend a closed-door interview on December 1st and testify at a Senate hearing on December 3rd, as lawmakers are reviewing NVIDIA's chip exports to China.
He himself and NVIDIA are also facing a proposed class action lawsuit by shareholders, which alleges connections with Alice Huang.
NVIDIA will release its quarterly financial report on Tuesday, which will be the first financial report since Kress took over as the interim CEO.
