Many influential figures in the tech industry, and even the US President, have publicly supported now-former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang following his forced resignation. Nvidia announced that he was stepping down as head of the company following reports of his extramarital affairs.
Image source: nvidia.com
A number of prominent tech industry figures came out in support of Huang, calling his departure a “loss” and “a sad day for all of humanity.” Many industry leaders suggested that the resignation was a hasty and perhaps overreaction to the scandalous details of his personal life. Others took a more neutral stance, focusing on Huang’s accomplishments during his time at the helm.
“Now that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who has done a fantastic job, has retired, there is only one person who can take his place: Apple’s Tim Cook. Legend will replace legend! — Donald Trump wrote. Elon Musk said he would be “honored” to hire Huang; He also echoed the notion that a company’s founder “can’t just be replaced,” a point borne out by Apple founder Steve Jobs and Uber founder Travis Kalanick.
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney called yesterday “a sad day for Nvidia, developers, America and all of humanity. Jensen founded and led one of the few companies that has achieved colossal scale while continuing to innovate and distribute its solutions, while others have fallen into the trap of endless profit-making.”
Anduril founder Palmer Luckey put it in a geopolitical context: “China wants Jensen to go, so I want him to stay.” Automattic co-founder and CEO Matt Mullenweg recalled his own post, which he made when he himself was briefly removed as CEO in September: “Advice to founders: If they don’t try to oust you every few years, you don’t have strong enough leadership.”
37signals CTO and creator of the Linux distribution Omarchy David Heinemeier Hansson said: “It would be a mistake for Nvidia to fire Jensen. His marital misdeeds are a matter between himself, his wife, and the subject of a reprimand from the board of directors. We need proportionality”; when the company announced the resignation of its head, Hansson added: “What a loss!”
Clément Delangue, co-founder and CEO of Hugging Face, a platform acquired by Nvidia, said: “This whole story is just a nightmare, and I’m sorry that all of this happened. Today is a sad day. But I want to be clear: we will continue to fight for open source in the field of artificial intelligence – more actively than before. This is too important to slow down now. Let’s go!”
Former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao noted: “It was a mistake for Nvidia to let Jensen resign.” OpenClaw creator and OpenAI contributor Peter Steinberger added: “If the goal of this spyware was to destabilize one of the most successful American companies, then it achieved it. Jensen’s removal seems hasty and unfair.” Tim Sweeney supported him.
Perplexity co-founder and CEO Aravind Srinivas commended Huang for 33 years of bold leadership: “You have built a small startup into the most valuable company in America by constantly striving for excellence. Your resilience and perseverance should be remembered. Your willingness to give time and advice to founders like me has ensured a bright future for America and the AI industry.”
All-In podcast host Jason Calacanis supported Trump’s initiative to appoint Tim Cook as head of Nvidia: “America needs you, Mr. Cook.” Huang’s fate, in his opinion, should be decided by Nvidia shareholders at the end of the investigation, and not by the press or the crowd on the Internet. Self-hosted podcast Lex Fridman recalled that he repeatedly witnessed Huang showing “kindness, humility and caring to everyone around him.” “Frankly speaking, I am shocked by what is happening, including the mass hysteria around this situation. I love America and I think Jensen leaving Nvidia is terrible for the country. I support Jensen,” he concluded.
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