Is a Jensen Huang return in the making?

What's the deal? After CNN reported on 12 November that US intelligence collected to date does not prove Alice HuangDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → was acting as a spy for Beijing, a group of prominent tech figures has challenged the narrative that preceded Jensen HuangDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →'s resignation as CEO of Nvidia. Some have gone further and called for him to be reinstated. The resignation itself, and the board's appointment of interim CEO Colette Kress, is covered separately in this note.

The prevailing narrative: In the days before the exit, reporting led by The New York Times said US authorities had concluded that Alice Huang, a former executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed InternationalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and no relation to Jensen Huang, was a Chinese intelligence asset who had a romantic relationship with him. Nvidia's board opened an independent investigation on 8 November after Huang told staff he had been "unfaithful to my wife." The board accepted his resignation on 11 November. CNN's own headline, however, added that uncertainty about whether she was a recruited spy "doesn't mean she wasn't a risk," and some officials still regard her as a counterintelligence concern. The second reported relationship, with an Nvidia executive who reported to Huang, is a separate governance issue that critics of the spy narrative have not resolved.

Why now: The immediate trigger for this wave of commentary was CNN's 12 November report, and the split it described inside the US government. Attorney General Todd Blanche said "no conclusions" had been reached; CIA officials were "not yet convinced"; officials at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence called the spy label "not entirely accurate and over-torqued"; and, according to David Sacks, the incoming House Intelligence Committee chair said after a briefing, "today, at least, I don't know."

The longer paper trail started months earlier with short seller Culper ResearchDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. On 13 May, founder Christian LamarcoDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → published a 40-page report, "NVIDIA (NVDA): The China Problem," which alleged that more than 20% of Nvidia's FY 2026 compute revenue was still tied to China through diversion and Southeast Asian intermediaries, and described an "uncomfortably close relationship" between Jensen Huang and Megaspeed's Alice Huang. Culper, whose business is to profit if a stock falls, posted the findings publicly in May. CBS News and Fox Business later noted that the report foreshadowed the relationship that dominated coverage after a classified assessment leaked into the press. Sacks has asked who leaked that memo and why, calling the leak "the only crime that we know for sure happened" and saying an investigation should be opened. Culper's May report is covered in more detail here.

The pushback: Sacks, a tech founder and investor and co-chair of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, wrote that "the spy narrative is collapsing already" and questioned whether there is "clear and convincing evidence" that Alice Huang was a Chinese spy. He contrasted the official doubt above with anonymous officials who, CNN reported, said it "strains credulity" to believe she was not acting for Beijing "simply by virtue of the fact that she is a successful Chinese businesswoman working with one of America's most powerful companies."

Epic Games founder Tim SweeneyDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, quoting Sacks, asked whether "journalists with sketchy motives portrayed rumors from god-knows-who (lobbyists?) as facts sourced from intelligence officials and gaslit the NVIDIA board to push out the founder," and said the episode "raises serious corporate governance issues." Investor Naval Ravikant wrote that "Jensen Huang is the Steve Jobs of Nvidia. He is irreplaceable." Podcast host Lex Fridman, writing on 12 November as the resignation landed, called letting Huang go "a huge mistake, for America and for humanity" and "Apple firing Steve Jobs all over again, but much bigger," while saying he "personally hate[s] infidelity" and adding, "I stand with Jensen."

Investor and author Balaji Srinivasan went furthest. Citing Sacks, he wrote that "Nvidia is nothing without its people" and that the national security allegations "may be as fake as Russiagate." If so, he argued, employees, shareholders, partners and customers should press directors who pushed for the resignation to step down, and should consider legal action for breach of fiduciary duty, because the value of Nvidia as an economic entity is "obviously far higher" if the founder is reinstated. He pointed to OpenAI's 2023 board crisis as evidence that "it can be done," and recommended a board analysis by research account Gemchange as a starting point for determining how each director voted.

Gemchange's table, which Balaji called "as good a place as any to start," labels five long-serving directors as early associates or colleagues of Huang and six later appointees as "loyalty unconfirmed." It is Gemchange's own assessment, not a record of how the board actually voted.

Inside Nvidia: The push is not only coming from outside the company. An internal "suggestion box" post, submitted by a longtime engineer before the resignation, urged the board to take employee sentiment into account and to share its findings and formally ask staff how they felt "about Jensen's continuing as our CEO." It has since drawn more than 1,600 comments, many asking the board to bring Huang back, WIRED reported after reviewing the internal correspondence. "If you believe in the mission, bring back THE boss," one anonymous commenter wrote. One employee sent a companywide email demanding transparency about the exit, and about two dozen staff posted support for Huang on LinkedIn; WIRED said it could not find posts from Nvidia employees supporting his resignation. Many staff had expected the board's investigation to conclude before any big change.

What the board has said: Board chair Harvey Jones told staff the board is searching for a permanent CEO and considering both internal and external candidates, while interim CEO Colette Kress said leadership will hold a company meeting on 18 November, according to memos published by Business Insider. Because Huang also gave up his board seat, any return would need the directors' backing.

Sources: CNN, 12 November
David Sacks, 13 November
Balaji Srinivasan, 13 November
Tim Sweeney, 13 November
Naval Ravikant, 13 November
Lex Fridman, 12 November
CBS News, 11 November
Fox Business, 10 November
Nvidia, 12 November
WIRED, 12 November
Business Insider, 12 November