Elon Musk was already entertaining the idea of hiring Jensen Huang before the Nvidia boss had even resigned.
When financial news account ZeroHedge posted “Elon please hire Jensen” on X Wednesday evening, Musk replied two hours later: “That would be an honor.”
By Thursday morning, Huang was out. The co-founder resigned after 33 years leading Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), amid fallout from an affair with a businesswoman suspected of spying for China.
Now prediction-market traders are betting on whether Huang will join Musk’s SpaceX (NASDAQ:SPCX) by Dec. 31, with Polymarket putting the chances at around 9%.
A Silicon Valley Bromance
Musk and Huang aren’t exactly strangers. The two tech titans have spent months publicly singing each other’s praises, with Huang declaring "I love working with Elon" during an October appearance on the BG2 podcast.
Musk returned the affection on X, writing: "Old friends are the best friends. Jensen rocks."
Their relationship goes beyond mutual admiration, too. Nvidia and SpaceX are collaborating on Starmind, an ambitious project to put AI computing infrastructure into orbit, and Huang has said their engineering teams are designing a new server architecture that can run both in space and on Earth.
Who Gets Jensen’s Old Office?
While Musk eyes a potential recruit, traders are also gambling on who will inherit Huang’s Nvidia empire.
On Polymarket, Ian Buck, the veteran engineering executive who helped develop CUDA, has approximately 32% odds of becoming Nvidia’s next permanent CEO.
Colette Kress, who took over as interim CEO Thursday, follows at around 23%. Her temporary appointment doesn’t count under the market’s rules.
Can Musk Land Jensen?
For now, bettors aren’t rushing to buy Huang a spacesuit.
Rival platform Kalshi is more optimistic than Polymarket, pricing a move to SpaceX or xAI at 12%. Kalshi traders give Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) 9%, while AMD and TSMC are both around 5%.
Under Kalshi’s rules, even a formal advisory or board position counts, provided he accepts the role before year-end.
As for Huang, there’s no confirmed offer from Musk. So far, the billionaire has given him a public endorsement, and bettors are giving him a long shot at joining SpaceX.
Kalshi and Benzinga have an existing data collaboration agreement.
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