Musk Says Hiring Jensen Huang Would Be ‘an Honor’ as Nvidia CEO Resigns

Elon Musk says hiring Jensen Huang would be “an honor,” a comment made before Nvidia confirmed on November 12 that its co-founder had resigned as president, CEO and a board member, effective immediately.

Musk was replying to a November 11 post from ZeroHedge that read, “Elon please hire Jensen.” His entire response was: “That would be an honor.”

The exchange did not announce a job, identify which Musk company could employ Huang, or confirm any hiring discussions. It came days after Musk discussed SpaceX’s plans for AI computers co-designed with Nvidia, highlighting the business relationship behind his support.

Jensen Huang Steps Down

Nvidia announced that chief financial officer Colette Kress will serve as interim CEO while continuing her finance role. The board is searching for a permanent successor and will consider internal and external candidates. Harvey C. Jones was appointed Nvidia’s first-ever board chair.

The company expects operations, customer commitments and its product roadmap to continue without interruption. Its next quarterly results remain scheduled for November 17. The transition announcement confirms Huang’s departure but does not announce a job at any Musk company or disclose findings from the independent investigation.

The Affair Allegations and Investigation

The latest allegation emerged on November 11, when The New York Times reported that Huang had an extramarital relationship with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of healthcare, who reported to him. Reuters summarized the report, which cited five people who had worked at Nvidia. Nvidia did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment. The relationship remains a reported allegation, separate from the company’s confirmed leadership announcement.

On November 8, Huang apologized in a message to Nvidia employees for being unfaithful to his wife. He accepted responsibility, said he remained committed to the company and pledged to cooperate with an independent investigation into national security concerns raised by news reports.

That same day, Nvidia’s board announced the investigation following reporting that Huang had been targeted by a foreign intelligence effort. A committee of independent directors, assisted by outside counsel, would oversee the review.

The board said at the time that it had no reason to believe Nvidia secrets or U.S. national security had been compromised. It also expressed confidence in Huang and his leadership team. Those were the board’s statements at the launch of the inquiry, not the findings of a completed investigation.

On November 10, the independent directors named Joon H. Kim and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to conduct the review. Kim previously served as acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. That announcement did not disclose conclusions or announce a leadership change.

Why Congress Is Involved

The fallout extends beyond Nvidia’s boardroom. In a November 5 announcement, House committee chairs Brian Mast, John Moolenaar and Rick Crawford said they had requested a joint, closed-door briefing with Huang.

Their request concerned his interactions with Megaspeed executive Alice Huang, whom the lawmakers described as a publicly reported Chinese intelligence asset, and Nvidia’s safeguards against foreign espionage. That characterization is an allegation cited by the committees, not an established finding of Nvidia’s investigation.

The chairs proposed November 18 for the briefing and asked Huang to accept or suggest another date by November 11. The release establishes that Congress requested the session; it does not establish that Huang accepted or that the briefing has taken place.

Musk and Nvidia Already Have Deep AI Ties

Musk’s companies have relied heavily on Nvidia hardware. In October 2024, Nvidia detailed its work on the original Colossus supercomputer in Memphis, built with xAI using 100,000 Hopper GPUs and Nvidia’s Spectrum-X networking. The system was developed to train Grok models.

The relationship now also reaches SpaceX’s planned orbital computing business. At the November 6 Baron conference, Musk said he expected the first StarMind computers co-designed with Nvidia to launch in the third quarter of 2027. He framed that timing as an estimate, not a guarantee.

Huang’s resignation is now confirmed. Musk’s earlier reply remains a statement of support and openness to hiring him, not an announcement that Huang has joined Tesla, SpaceX or another Musk business.