Billionaire Elon Musk is backing a push to reinstate Jensen Huang as Nvidia CEO following his stunning resignation amid a Chinese spy sex scandal.
“A petition is underway to reinstate Jensen and I’m signing it too,” Musk posted to his 40 million followers on X, the social media platform he owns.
The world’s richest man’s endorsement of the “Stand with Jensen” petition quickly racked up 8 million views.
Huang stepped down after admitting to an extramarital affair following disclosures that he had a relationship with Alice Huang, an alleged Chinese intelligence asset who is not related to him.
Now, lawmakers on key committees in Congress are calling for him to testify, and are demanding an examination of the Trump administration’s decision to allow exports of certain powerful AI chips to China.
On Thursday, Musk said it would be “an honor” to hire Huang, 63, who helped build Nvidia into the world’s second-largest company. Like Musk, he has cultivated a close relationship with President Trump.
The Tesla and SpaceX billionaire was responding to an X user, who wrote: “Elon please hire Jensen.”
But Huang’s alleged affairs weren’t the only forces behind his downfall. A memo from China hawk Secretary of State Marco Rubio also helped fuel pressure for his ouster, the Washington Post reported.
Rubio’s State Department prepared a memo detailing Huang’s relationship with Alice Huang, drawing on an earlier CIA report, a source told the paper. Leaks about the affair intensified pressure on Huang to resign, sidelining a powerful advocate for allowing China to buy advanced American AI chips.
Huang had obtained close access to President Trump, joining him on Air Force One on his May trip to China, dropping by for Oval Office meetings, and consulting with the president by phone.
In May 2025, the Trump administration scrapped a Biden-era rule restricting exports of advanced AI chips, arguing that it “stifled American innovation and saddled companies with burdensome new regulatory requirements.”
