From Elon Musk's Signature Petition to Pressure from PE Shareholders: NVIDIA (NVDA.US) Leadership Turmoil Is Turning into a Supply Chain Trust Crisis

According to Zhihu Finance APP, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk stated that after former CEO Jensen Huang was dismissed, NVIDIA (NVDA.US) will face supply chain issues.

"Jensen Huang managed NVIDIA's supply chain extremely well, but many of those deals were sealed by his handshake rather than contracts," the Tesla CEO wrote in an X post on Saturday morning. "Losing Jensen Huang means at least some of these key deals will be lost."

Musk's comments were in response to an interview with SemiAnalysis CEO Dylan Patel on CNBC's "Squawk Box Asia" on November 12.

"If Jensen Huang promised me compute power delivery, or if I needed to expedite certain components, he always delivered," Musk wrote in another post on Saturday morning. "Of course, we would always do a purchase order after the fact, but I never doubted for a second that it would happen."

"Please bring Jensen Huang back": Musk to sign petition

On Friday, Musk said there is currently a petition circulating calling for Jensen Huang to return, and he will sign it.

On the same day, two well-known private equity firms with large holdings in NVIDIA also called on the company's board to act with prudence when deciding on the future leadership of the chip maker and to "include the option of Jensen Huang's possible return."

Altimeter Capital Management CEO Brad Gerstner and Atreides Management managing partner and chief investment officer Gavin Baker jointly wrote a letter to the board on Friday, which was published on X.

"We believe the board should avoid hastily replacing Jensen Huang, so as not to harm and hinder the maximum interests of shareholders."

The two said that if, after all facts are clarified, Jensen Huang is barred from returning as CEO, "that is the board's prerogative."

"But the founder and longtime outstanding leader of this extraordinary company deserves a prudent process, not a rushed replacement before the facts are clear."

According to the latest SEC filings from both firms, Altimeter holds about 9.4 million shares of NVIDIA, and Atreides holds about 1.2 million shares.

The weight of the incident: "Personal credit" discount in the supply chain

Musk's remarks reveal an unquantifiable risk: NVIDIA's supply chain advantage has been largely built on Jensen Huang's personal credibility and long-standing relationships. When these "handshake agreements" lose that personal guarantee for fulfillment, even though the company has a deep talent pool and strong technological moat, short-term delivery certainty and supply priority may still be compromised—precisely the most scarce resources in the AI computing power shortage era.