Original | Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina)

Author | Azuma (@azuma_eth)

After Jensen Huang left Nvidia, who can take over the helm of this AI chip giant has become the most concerning question in the market.

Just yesterday, Odaily had already combined the probability from the prediction market to outline Jensen Huang's potential successors (see details in “Who can officially take over Jensen Huang?”). From technical veterans within Nvidia to leaders of external semiconductor giants, and even to former Apple CEO Tim Cook personally named by Trump, the candidates for Nvidia's next CEO are varied.

However, this sudden power transition seems to still hold uncertainties. Social media has been igniting a huge wave of “retention” — from thousands of employees jointly petitioning, to Musk publicly supporting, to top tech funds challenging the board, the demand for Jensen Huang's reinstatement is rapidly gathering momentum.

Ten Thousand Signatures Petition: Demand "Procedural Justice" and Immediate Reinstatement

The core battleground of this support is an independent website named Stand With Jensen, which released an open letter to Nvidia's board of directors, signed by self-identified current and former Nvidia employees, partners, shareholders, and supporters. However, the website did not explicitly disclose the identities of the specific initiators and there is no evidence to prove that all signers are from within Nvidia.

As of 10:00 AM Beijing time on November 14, the open letter has garnered 19,101 signatures.

The core demand of the open letter is singular — to reinstate Jensen Huang as CEO until independent investigations clarify the facts.

Petitioners believe that Jensen Huang has dedicated a full 33 years to Nvidia, leading a graphics chip startup to the core position of the global AI industry. Whether in the company's technological direction or corporate culture, Huang's personal imprint is deeply marked. Therefore, even if he needs to take responsibility for his actions, he should not lose the leadership role directly while the investigation is still ongoing and relevant evidence has not been fully disclosed.

The open letter also puts forward two additional demands:

• First, to ensure that the investigation is genuinely independent, to publicly disclose the scope, independence, and expected completion time of the investigation, and to give Jensen Huang ample opportunity to present and defend himself.
• Second, to require the board to promptly explain to the public the specific concerns, relevant evidence, and how the board weighs the interests of employees and shareholders.

It is worth noting that petitioners did not ask for Jensen Huang to be exempt from accountability. The open letter also acknowledges that 33 years of leadership experience do not mean anyone can override accountability mechanisms. Their core opposition lies solely in the fact that irreversible decisions should not be made before the investigation reaches a conclusion.

Musk Stands Firm, Wall Street Major Shareholders Address Board

As the petition rapidly spreads on social networks, several well-known figures from the tech and crypto circles have also joined in.

The most heavyweight support comes from Elon Musk — Musk publicly stated on the X platform this morning that he will sign the open letter. Previously, when a netizen suggested Musk directly invite Jensen Huang to join his company, he responded that "it would be an honor."

• Odaily Note: The Stand With Jensen website shows that Musk seems to have completed the signing of the letter.

Aside from Musk, prominent names such as ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming, a16z founder Marc Andreessen, Binance founder CZ, and He Yi also appeared in the public signature list on the petition website. However, because the petition page currently does not have strict identity verification mechanisms, it cannot yet be determined that these signatures are personally signed.

Other confirmed notable figures include Brad Gerstner, CEO of the well-known tech investment firm Altimeter Capital Management, and Gavin Baker, managing partner and chief investment officer of Atreides Management.

This is because this morning, Gerstner and Baker jointly sent an open letter to Nvidia's board as major shareholders, in which they clearly stated: “Given the extraordinary achievements Jensen Huang has led the company to achieve over a long period and the huge uncertainty accompanying his departure, the board should adopt a ‘slow, cautious, and carefully considered’ succession process, keeping all options on the negotiation table, including ‘Jensen Huang's return to the position’.”

Gerstner and Baker also emphasized that Nvidia is currently led by interim CEO Colette Kress and her team, who are fully capable of stabilizing the transitional situation. The board has ample time to do things correctly and should not rush to find a permanent replacement before all the facts are clear in order to avoid harming the fundamental interests of shareholders.

What Are the Chances of Reinstatement? Polymarket Offers Pricing

Does Jensen Huang have a chance to come back? The prediction market has now provided real-time pricing for this possibility.

Polymarket related market data shows that the probability of the option “Jensen Huang reinstated” had reached as high as approximately 16% overnight, and although it has since fallen back to 9%, it still represents a significant increase from 4% yesterday.

Objectively, whether Jensen Huang can ultimately achieve a “return of the king” depends on the interplay of various forces.

From a favorable perspective, Jensen Huang is not only a CEO for Nvidia, but also an irreplaceable strategic soul and anchor of the ecosystem. His sudden departure has directly led to significant pressure on the company's stock price; now that several internal employees and major shareholders like Altimeter have publicly sided with him, the board is likely to face high internal friction and governance resistance when pushing for “de-Huangization” and selecting a new leader. If the independent investigation by external law firms ultimately clears the most sensitive national security and confidentiality suspicions, leaving only personal life flaws, the board indeed has room to smoothly reinstate him.

But the real barriers are also clear and solid. First, under the governance framework of modern US publicly traded companies, once the board forces a CEO to officially announce “immediate resignation,” it often indicates that substantial compliance issues regarding information disclosure or concealment of facts from the board are already in the hands of internal stakeholders. Major public funds and regulatory agencies are unlikely to tolerate a "zero-cost reinstatement" in the absence of a significant turnaround; second, the current geopolitical technology contest is highly sensitive, making it highly probable that the board will choose a complete severance to avoid systemic risks.

The 9% market odds aptly reflect this subtle reality — despite the high demand, successful reinstatements of founders who had to exit hastily due to crises remain a low-probability event in the modern history of American business.

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