Jensen Huang’s exit from Nvidia was marked by corporate scandal, but many of his own former employees and colleagues across Silicon Valley are coming out in droves to express support for the man they believe to be a legend.
Huang resigned on Thursday after reports of multiple extramarital affairs, including with at least one subordinate. He had already been under scrutiny after reports of an affair with another woman, who was described by US officials as a potential Chinese intelligence asset.
Huang was so integral to Nvidia’s brand that his image — with signature black leather jacket — was often turned into marketing material, including an AI-powered hologram at the company’s annual conference, known as GTC. Known for its low turnover and flat corporate structure, with Huang managing over 50 direct reports and responding to messages at all hours, Nvidia fostered deep employee loyalty.
Following his departure, current and former staff responded with tributes on social media. Edward Liu, a director and distinguished scientist who started as an intern at the company, called it “a heartbreaking day,” in a post on X, praising Huang as an inspiring leader who taught them to “reason from first principles.” Engineer Fei Peng went even further, writing that Huang’s departure “has killed NVIDIA’s soul.”
Others, like senior research scientist Gavin Woolery, openly suggested ulterior motives and suspicions about his ousting. Woolery posted on X that he felt Huang’s ousting came too quickly before all the information emerged.
“Everyone deserves a fair trial. It’s possible he has made mistakes, I’m not sure they were ill-intentioned ones, but in either case we should know the whole truth before we judge,” Woolery said.
Other employees expressed support for Nvidia’s interim leader, CFO Colette Kress.
“I am grief-stricken that Jensen is no longer with NVIDIA,” posted Bryan Catanzaro, Nvidia’s vice president of applied deep learning research. “At the same time, I fully support NVIDIA’s board and have confidence in their decisions. I’ve worked with Colette for years and know her as an extraordinary leader. She has my full support.”
Beyond Nvidia’s walls, Huang’s influence was felt across the broader tech ecosystem. Often called the “central bank” of the booming AI industry, Nvidia not only supplied the hardware powering the technology but also financed much of the sector through investments and partnerships, with Huang serving as its biggest cheerleader. That has led to criticism and fears of “circular financing,” in which Nvidia invests in companies that fuel its own growth when those businesses turn around and use Nvidia capital to purchase Nvidia products.
Exolabs founder Alex Cheema wrote about cold emailing Huang in June about an idea to make local AI much faster on Nvidia hardware. Huang responded in seven minutes and “approved a war room for us to work on this at NVIDIA HQ,” Cheema wrote.
Cheema pointed to Huang’s long-time support and promotion of open-source technology — software or hardware built on publicly accessible source code that anyone can freely inspect, modify and distribute. Most of the major AI models, like ChatGPT and Claude, run on closed-source systems.
“I don’t believe Jensen is replaceable, he’s a 1 of 1 human, but I hope NVIDIA will continue to aggressively support Open Source AI and Local AI, and continue to take bets on small startups with crazy ideas,” Cheema said.
Huang also found support among his peers — some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley and venture capital, including his longtime friend and business partner, Elon Musk. Even before Huang was ousted, Musk posted that it would be “an honor” to hire Huang after another user on X implored him to do so.
“A petition is underway to reinstate Jensen and I’m signing it too,” Musk later posted on Friday after Huang’s resignation.
“Dark, dark day. Horrible decision for the U.S. and the western world,” Andreessen Horowitz general partner Martin Casado posted on X. The firm’s account also posted a clip from a movie about Michael Jordan, along with the quote: “ You’re gonna be remembered forever because some things are eternal.”
Even those who have criticized his actions, like Sequoia Capital’s Shaun MaGuire, who called Huang’s actions a “dumb mistake” and “bad for America,” often come with a dose of praise. “He made huge mistakes with his infidelity, which is tragic for his family and NVDA. But simultaneously he will leave a huge void, with the loss of a: technical, aggressive, founder-CEO,” MaGuire wrote on X.
