U.S. Congress seeks testimony from ex-Nvidia CEO Huang
U.S. lawmakers have requested testimony from former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and senior company and government officials amid growing national security concerns over a suspected Chinese intelligence operation, Qazinform News Agency reports.
According to a November 12 statement from the House Foreign Affairs Committee, three Republican committee chairmen sent letters to Huang, Nvidia General Counsel Tim Teter and Under Secretary of Commerce Jeffrey Kessler requesting their appearance before Congress.
The letters were issued by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast, Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rick Crawford.
“As reports continue to come to light regarding Jensen Huang, NVIDIA, and Megaspeed, there are clear national security concerns that need to be addressed immediately,” the lawmakers said.
They added that Congress needed to determine the extent of any potential threat to U.S. national security.
The latest requests follow an earlier letter, dated November 4, asking Huang to attend a closed-door congressional briefing on November 18.
The inquiry centers on Huang’s reported interactions with Alice Huang, a former executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed who has been publicly identified in allegations as a suspected Chinese intelligence operative. The claims have raised concerns about the possible exposure of sensitive American technology and the enforcement of export restrictions on advanced AI chips.
Separately, Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Chris Coons sent a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and other senior administration officials on November 11, demanding the preservation of documents related to Nvidia’s exports to China and the suspected intelligence operation.
The senators requested written confirmation by November 17 that the relevant records had been preserved. They also called for a congressional briefing on potential national security risks.
Meanwhile, Nvidia’s board announced an independent investigation on November 8, saying it had no reason at that time to believe U.S. national security or the company’s confidential information had been compromised.
The congressional scrutiny comes shortly after Huang stepped down as Nvidia’s CEO on November 12, with Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress appointed interim chief executive.
Earlier, Qazinform reported that Huang had resigned as president, CEO and board member of Nvidia, ending more than three decades at the helm of the chipmaker he co-founded in 1993.