Jensen Huang Reportedly Weighing Return to Nvidia as Elon Musk Warns “Critical Deals Will Be Lost” Without Him
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The Financial Times reported on November 15, 2026, citing unnamed sources, that Jensen Huang has discussed with confidants the possibility of returning as chief executive of NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA | NVDA Price Prediction). One friend told the FT that a “war room” of Silicon Valley executives is being set up to lobby for his return, according to Fortune’s summary. This is an unconfirmed report. Neither Huang nor NVIDIA has confirmed a return, and NVIDIA did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.
Markets were closed when the report broke, so the stock has not traded on it. Through Friday’s close on November 13, shares sat at $162.85 after a -2.01% session and a -26.41% slide over the month.
What Is Signed Versus What Is Only Talk
NVIDIA announced on Thursday, November 12 that Huang had stepped down as CEO, named CFO Colette Kress interim CEO, and appointed Harvey Jones as its first-ever board chair. The board has also brought in outside counsel. Reported: the FT story. Intent only: everything else. No terms, timeline or board response exist.
Elon Musk weighed in on X on November 14, 2026: “Jensen drove supply chain brilliantly at Nvidia, but many of those deals were a handshake with Jensen, not a written contract. Without Jensen, at least some of those critical deals will be lost.” In a second post he added: “If Jensen gave me his word about compute delivery or I asked for components to be accelerated, he always came through. Sure, we’d put together a purchase order at some point later, but I never for a second thought it wouldn’t happen.”
When demand outruns supply, a chipmaker decides who gets parts first. Huang said in August, “Even though our demand is much greater than 70%, our supply allows us to confidently deliver 70%.”[1] If priority rested on one man’s word, a successor could re-rank customers.
What Shareholders Stand to Gain or Lose
Scale tempers the worry. NVIDIA posted Q2 FY27 revenue of $96.221B[2], Data Center revenue of $89.023B, guided Q3 to $108.0B ±2%, and disclosed $279.0B in supply commitments. Those obligations are written. The stock trades at about 33 times earnings with a $3.932 trillion market cap. Musk did not quantify the handshake deals at risk.
Washington Is the Real Obstacle
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News the board should look outside the company and needs a “dramatic shakeup.” He added: “If this were a bank and they hadn’t complied like this, the OCC would be in there right now and a lot of the executives would be removed.” His focus is whether NVIDIA had a culture of export compliance linked to Megaspeed shipments.
Musk is a buyer of AI compute; NVIDIA’s own Q2 release named SpaceXAI deploying Vera CPUs[2]. His view carries a customer’s interest, and he named no specific deal. NVIDIA’s August call described formal structures, including take-or-pay commitments, and stated, “Independent capital still underwrites every deal on its own merits.”[1] Fortune reports Kress and engineer Ian Buck as internal possibilities, with AMD (NASDAQ:AMD) CEO Lisa Su and Arm Holdings (NASDAQ:ARM) CEO Rene Haas floated from outside. None is a confirmed shortlist.
Can Huang Realistically Return?
Not soon. The board just separated the chair role, an outside counsel review is open, and the Treasury Secretary is publicly pressing for an outside hire. Restoring Huang before that review ends would invite more federal scrutiny. The FT report changes sentiment while the board’s governance structure stays in place.
Check three things: any board statement on the CEO search, NVIDIA’s response to the FT report, and the outside counsel’s findings. The earnings report due November 17 is the first test of whether Q3 lands near the $108.0B[2] guide without Huang.
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AJ spent 10 years writing about financial markets at The Motley Fool. His coverage centers on technology stocks and the broader macroeconomic trends, from interest rates to geopolitics, that shape where markets are headed next. AJ is drawn to the stories where big-picture economics and individual companies collide.
