Elon Musk, Uber co-founder join calls to reinstate Jensen Huang as Nvidia chief

Tech tycoon Elon Musk and an Uber co-founder are, as of Sunday, among more than 158,000 signatories of an open letter calling for Jensen Huang's reinstatement as Nvidia chief. The letter demands that the company's board members "bring Jensen back while an independent investigation establishes the facts." Huang resigned Thursday, ending a 33-year run at the helm of the AI giant he co-founded after revelations he had two extramarital affairs, with a woman accused of spying for China and another with a subordinate. Alongside the SpaceX chief, the tech heavyweight signatories include Tim Sweeney, founder and CEO of video game publisher Epic Games, and Garry Tan, president of Y Combinator, San Francisco's most renowned business incubator. Another signatory, Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick, wrote that Huang had "erred, yes -- to err is to be human -- but I do not believe anything he has done rises to the bar of separating him from his company." More than 7,500 signatories identify themselves as Nvidia employees, equivalent to 18 percent of the company's workforce. Read moreWhy the Nvidia scandal is bad news for Europe’s AI ambitions The support illustrates the unique standing of the leather-jacketed executive, who is seen as a godfather of AI within the industry. Under his leadership, Nvidia became a pivotal Silicon Valley investor, financing data centers and startups, earning it the nickname "the central bank of AI." But the company has also faced criticism that it has fueled a speculative investment bubble. Huang championed open AI models, including Chinese ones, and fought any constraints on the AI race, clashing on these issues with Claude creator Anthropic and its chief Dario Amodei. According to the Financial Times, Huang has discussed a possible return with people close to him, and one of his allies says he is assembling a crisis team of executives to seek White House support. On Friday, two major shareholders, investors Brad Gerstner and Gavin Baker, urged the board to keep "all options" open. In Washington, however, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent argued Sunday that Nvidia should look "outside" the company for its next chief. "They need a dramatic shake-up," Bessent said on Fox News, demanding that the company explain whether it had knowingly turned a blind eye to the smuggling of its chips to China. (FRANCE 24 with AFP)