A day after Jensen Huang resigned from Nvidia, Silicon Valley is already anticipating his comeback
As a close ally of Donald Trump, regularly taking calls — even publicly — from the president, Huang became one of the most prominent and influential voices in Washington for the largely California-based tech industry, leaving a vacuum with his departure from one of the world’s most profitable companies that has become the backbone of the AI boom.
But while national security hawks and tech skeptics in Washington prepare to haul him before Congress to bring further scrutiny of his affair with an alleged Chinese intelligence asset, Silicon Valley leaders are mourning his swift exit and positing ways that he could return.
The founder of defense tech giant Anduril, Palmer Luckey, and Perplexity AI CEO Aravind Srinivas have rushed to Huang’s defense, while SpaceXSI CEO Elon Musk has even floated the idea of hiring him.
Five other tech industry insiders also told POLITICO they expect Huang to eventually return in a major way to leadership within Silicon Valley. Another three were not quite as confident, but indicated they wouldn’t be surprised if it happened.
“It is inevitable, with all of the value that he’s created and his role commonly accepted as the godfather of AI, that he will have a second act,” said an executive at a prominent California startup who was granted anonymity to frankly discuss industry dynamics. “And that any number of hyperscalers and startups are tripping over themselves to reach out to him and bring him on, regardless of any transgressions.”
Despite losing his lofty perch at Nvidia, Huang still has a net worth of roughly $145 billion, an ecosystem of connections in high places and a sterling entrepreneurial reputation within the industry, some noted.
“That kind of influence doesn’t just disappear overnight,” said Joseph Hoefer, chief AI officer at the lobbying firm Monument Advocacy. “I wouldn’t confuse losing his position with losing his ability to shape what comes down the road.”
A spokesperson for Huang did not respond to a request for comment on his future plans.
Three of the people who spoke with POLITICO said it would be easier for Huang to start a new venture using his wealth of capital, rather than joining an already established company.
The connection to allegations of espionage “would make it much harder for any public company to bring him on board in a leadership role,” said Scott Gerber, partner at the tech strategy consultancy Vrge.
Others have started to seize on questions about the initial reports of Huang’s affair with an alleged Chinese spy, potentially undercutting any support for his ouster. Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), who will likely be the incoming chair of the House Intelligence Committee, told POLITICO this week that he’s unsure whether Huang’s paramour was knowingly providing information to China based on briefings from U.S. intelligence officials.
David Sacks, Trump’s former AI czar and a venture capitalist prominent on the tech right, highlighted reports that some in the U.S. intel community have similar doubts. “The spy narrative is collapsing already,” he wrote in an X post.
Recouping influence in Washington, however, may still be trickier than in Silicon Valley. Huang has been a commanding voice in advocating for looser restrictions on exports to China of advanced semiconductors — necessary for the development of artificial intelligence. That position is being called into question by lawmakers in Congress, given an initial Financial Times report that U.S. intelligence believed Huang was having an affair with a spy.
“His standing in industry might be recoverable over time,” said Philip Reiner, CEO of the Institute for Security and Technology think tank in California and a former senior director at the National Security Council. “Rebuilding credibility in Washington on China policy is extremely challenging.”
Even still, much of the cachet he built was specifically connected to Trump’s White House, meaning it would have an expiration date regardless, ahead of the 2028 election, others noted.
“[M]uch of his political influence was tied to his relationship with the current administration, and that kind of access will be hard to rebuild once the political landscape shifts,” said Nu Wexler, a principal at Four Corners Public Affairs who advises tech companies on policy communications.
This delicate position raises the stakes for an upcoming House hearing on the scandal, for which Huang has agreed to testify.
“If he can come before Congress and own mistakes, but also explain them and still be a credible voice, that will go a long way towards opening the door for anything else that he would want to do in Washington and the private sector,” said Daniel Castro, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation — a think tank funded by Big Tech companies like Amazon and Microsoft.
