Nvidia weighs Jensen Huang's exit as Musk issues a one-line reply

24/7 Wall St. reported on November 12, 2026, that Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) had a market value about $1.9 trillion below its October 6 record at 7:10 a.m. ET Thursday. Shares traded at $159.98 in pre-market trading, down 7.9% from Wednesday’s close. The Wall Street Journal said Nvidia’s board was preparing to remove co-founder Jensen Huang and could meet as soon as Wednesday night. Nvidia had announced no decision by Thursday morning. Those facts turned a board report into an immediate market question about Nvidia’s leadership. 24/7 Wall St. did not report a firing, successor or governance plan.

What does the board report establish?

Huang co-founded Nvidia in 1993 and has run it ever since, according to 24/7 Wall St. He has spent 33 years building the company, whose chips became the engine of the AI boom. The name Nvidia comes from invidia, the Latin word for envy. Co-founder Curtis Priem said the company’s aim was to make competitors green with envy, and its green branding preserved that idea, 24/7 Wall St. reported. The Wall Street Journal account concerned a possible ouster, not a completed one. The source identified no replacement or timetable.

The report establishes possible board action, not an actual removal.

What did Musk actually say?

Late Wednesday, 24/7 Wall St. noted that Elon Musk, described there as the world’s richest man, had entered the discussion. At 6:22 p.m. ET, the market commentary account Zero Hedge posted on X: “Elon please hire Jensen.” Two hours later, Musk replied: “That would be an honor.” The source cautioned that this was one line on social media and might be nothing more.

Musk did not name Terafab, offer Huang a job or describe an arrangement. 24/7 Wall St. framed a possible pairing as Huang’s revenge, but neither man offered evidence for that motive. Huang has said nothing about his plans, and the board has not decided whether to remove him.

Musk’s reply created attention, not an agreement.

Why is Huang under scrutiny?

24/7 Wall St. said Huang invited scrutiny by telling employees days earlier that he had been unfaithful to his wife. Reports linked him to Alice Huang, a former executive at Singapore’s Megaspeed whom U.S. officials suspect of spying for China. China calls that claim groundless, and 24/7 Wall St. stressed that Huang had not been accused of a crime. On Wednesday, The New York Times reported a second relationship with Kimberly Powell, an Nvidia vice president who reports to Huang. These private allegations do not establish corporate misconduct or a board-level offense. They do provide the reported backdrop for a leadership review of the founder who has run Nvidia since 1993.

The personal allegations provide context, not proof of wrongdoing by Huang.

What resources would Huang bring?

Even after this week’s decline, 24/7 Wall St. valued Nvidia at about $3.9 trillion. According to Huang’s latest Form 4 filing (a document that reports insider holdings), he holds about 811.5 million Nvidia shares directly and through trusts. The stake was worth roughly $130 billion at the pre-market price. Huang therefore has ample means to fund a second act, according to the source.

24/7 Wall St. also noted that California generally does not enforce non-compete agreements, contracts restricting work for competitors. A move to a rival effort would face few legal barriers in the state, the source said. It framed Huang as a founder pushed out at the peak of an industry he helped create. The source also cautioned that Huang and Musk, two dominant chief executives used to running companies their own way, might not make easy partners.

Huang has both means and motive to start again, but he has announced no plan.

What exactly is Terafab?

Musk announced Terafab on March 21 in Austin, Texas, as a chip manufacturing complex owned by Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) and SpaceX. It would make processors for Musk’s companies, with a stated long-term goal of one terawatt (one trillion watts) of AI computing hardware a year. 24/7 Wall St. said no chipmaker had attempted that scale. Intel joined in April, and Musk said Terafab planned to use Intel’s 14A manufacturing process. The source described the build in two parts.

• A research fab, or semiconductor manufacturing plant, near Tesla’s Gigafactory in Austin would cost about $3 billion and test ideas.
• The permanent plant would sit in Grimes County, Texas. May county filings estimated $55 billion for the first phases and up to $119 billion for the full build.

In August, Tesla and SpaceX said they would put about $16.8 billion into a first phase. Construction was scheduled from December 2026 through 2028. The planned chips target Tesla’s cars and Optimus robots, plus hardware for SpaceX.

Terafab has a stated scale and funding plan, but execution remains unproven.

Why would Huang fit?

Terafab would move Huang from chip design into manufacturing, according to 24/7 Wall St. Nvidia designs its chips, while Taiwan Semiconductor makes them, so operating a fab would be new ground for him. The source said the strategic overlap extends to self-driving cars and robots, two fields Huang has often praised. Nvidia has spent years building chips and software for both industries. Terafab would give Huang influence over semiconductor production and a direct line into those markets. 24/7 Wall St. argued that few projects would offer him a larger platform after Nvidia.

For Musk, the harder problem is designing chips capable of justifying a fab of that size. Musk has said Terafab is needed because outside suppliers cannot make enough chips for his companies. The source argued that few people know more about designing chips at that scale than Huang. That expertise does not guarantee the factory will open on schedule or stay within budget, a risk the source also identified. Personal chemistry remains untested, and Terafab has yet to demonstrate that it can meet its construction schedule.

Huang fits the technical gap, though operating and partnership risks remain.

What does this mean for shareholders?

For Nvidia holders, the immediate question remains the board’s. 24/7 Wall St. called a founder’s departure a risk on its own and a departure to help a customer build competing chips a bigger risk. Tesla and xAI have been among the large buyers of Nvidia hardware, according to the source. Dan Ives of Yorkville Ives said Nvidia would be worth 25% to 30% less without Huang. That estimate is an analyst judgment, not an announced valuation or the result of a completed transaction.

For Tesla holders, the stock traded at $388.70 before Thursday’s open. A Huang hire would signal confidence in Terafab, but the project still has to prove that it can be built on time and on budget. Nothing is settled: the board has not decided, Huang has not described his plans, and Musk’s reply was one sentence. The source advised investors to assess how much of their portfolios depends on these two men, including holdings inside index funds, which own baskets of stocks.

The main investor risk is concentration around two unusually powerful founders.

The next concrete tests are a board decision, any statement from Huang and Terafab’s scheduled December 2026 construction start. Without those developments, a Terafab role remains speculation rather than an operating arrangement.