Congress seeks answers from Nvidia and the administration
Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang is facing growing bipartisan congressional scrutiny over reports concerning his relationship with a woman allegedly recruited by Chinese intelligence, according to CNBC. Lawmakers are also questioning the Trump administration’s knowledge of the matter, bringing the company’s customer relationships and Washington’s technology-security oversight into focus.
Three Republican House committee chairs wrote to Huang on Wednesday asking him to attend a closed-door briefing on Nov. 18. Their letter said the reports raised substantial national security questions about China’s access to sensitive American technology and information. The requested appearance would come one day after Nvidia is scheduled to release its third-quarter earnings. The source report did not establish that Huang had agreed to attend.
Intelligence allegation centers on a customer executive
The scrutiny concerns Alice Huang, a Chinese citizen and executive at Singapore-based technology company Megaspeed. According to CNBC, U.S. authorities have suspected Megaspeed of helping China evade restrictions on artificial intelligence chip sales. The New York Times reported Friday that Trump administration policymakers received a memo last spring containing intelligence that identified Alice Huang as having been recruited by China’s Ministry of State Security. The memo also disclosed her relationship with Nvidia’s chief executive, the Times reported.
Nvidia spokesman John Rizzo told the Times that Jensen Huang’s interactions with Alice Huang were consistent with meetings he held with other Nvidia customers. Rizzo also said the chief executive had a strong security team that accompanied him when needed, but declined to say whether Huang would appear before lawmakers. The intelligence connection remains a reported allegation; the account supplied by CNBC does not establish that Jensen Huang knowingly assisted Chinese intelligence or that the interactions resulted in any transfer of sensitive information.
Democrats signal investigations and seek Lutnick testimony
Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat, said Saturday on X that Congress would investigate and obtain answers. His post accused the administration of corruption in connection with the reported ties among administration officials, alleged Chinese spies and artificial intelligence business leaders. Those accusations were Coons’s political assessment, rather than findings established in CNBC’s report.
Coons is in line to chair the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when Democrats take control of the chamber in January, CNBC reported, giving his demand significance for the next Congress’s oversight agenda. Separately, Rep. Seth Magaziner, a Rhode Island Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, called for Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to testify alongside Huang. The report did not identify a confirmed testimony date for either man.
Beijing chip-assembly approval adds another oversight question
A separate New York Times report published Saturday drew criticism from Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican. It said the Trump administration had approved Chinese company New Matrix to assemble chips for Nvidia in Beijing. The Times reported finding little evidence of meaningful business activity at the company’s listed address, despite a national security clearance from the Commerce Department. Cornyn shared the article on X and described the findings as outrageous.
Together, the reports place Nvidia’s overseas business relationships and the administration’s screening decisions under congressional examination just before the company’s earnings announcement. They do not, on the supplied evidence, establish any resulting change to Nvidia’s sales permissions or operations. Whether Huang attends the requested briefing, whether Lutnick testifies and how Congress pursues the allegations remain unresolved. Neither Nvidia nor the Commerce Department immediately responded to CNBC’s requests for comment.
Source: CNBC