Senate Seeks Ex-Nvidia CEO Huang’s Testimony as House Threatens Subpoena

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott (R-S.C.) on Thursday asked former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to testify before the panel. 

Three House committee chairmen separately warned Huang in a Nov. 12 letter that a subpoena would be issued unless he confirmed in writing by 8 p.m. Friday that he would attend a closed-door, transcribed interview at the beginning of December.

Scott sent letters to both men about recent developments at the chipmaker and announced the request on X, saying recent reports raise serious concerns about national security and the protection of sensitive U.S. technology.

“The American people deserve answers,” he wrote. 

The request was made on the same day Nvidia announced Huang’s resignation, which followed his Nov. 8 admission of an extramarital affair with an alleged Chinese spy, Alice Huang, who is not related to him.  

Lutnick’s Commerce Department oversees U.S. export controls, and a growing number of lawmakers are criticizing whether it properly oversaw those exports.

They object to the administration’s refusal to add dozens of Chinese companies to the department’s Entity List, a trade blacklist, and ask whether the government properly oversaw Nvidia’s exports to China. The list has had no additions since October 2025, the longest gap in more than a decade. 

Megaspeed, the Singapore-based company where Alice Huang was an executive, is not on the list. 

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.) wrote to Lutnick on Thursday questioning the December 2025 decision to let Nvidia sell advanced H200 chips to China in exchange for a cut of the sales, which they called “an unconstitutional export tax.” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) told CNN that Lutnick will face questions from Congress.

Nvidia’s board opened an investigation on Nov. 8, saying it had no reason to believe national security or company secrets were compromised. Huang apologized that same day in a message to employees.

“I owe my family and all of you an apology,” he wrote.

On Nov. 10, the company named law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to lead the probe.

Shareholders sued Nvidia and Huang on Nov. 9, accusing them of defrauding investors by concealing the affair. President Donald Trump has said the FBI is looking into the matter. 

Alice Huang, whose Chinese name is Huang Le, is about 42 years old, according to a Nov. 9 report by Chinese state-censored financial media outlet Caixin. Her professional background spans journalism, banking, securities, and private equity, according to Caixin, which cited people who had interacted with her. Her employment history has not been independently established through public records.

Huang’s career eventually brought her into the global AI industry when she started working for Megaspeed in 2023.

On Nov. 4, the chairmen of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence asked Jensen Huang for a closed-door briefing on his interactions with Alice Huang and Nvidia’s security protocols against foreign adversary espionage. 

In a Nov. 12 letter signed by Reps. Brian Mast (R-Fla.), John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), and Eric Crawford (R-Ark.), the respective chairmen of the three committees, Jensen Huang was asked to appear for the briefing on Dec. 1 or face a subpoena.

“Failure to cooperate with this request will result in the House Foreign Affairs Committee issuing a subpoena to compel your testimony in a format of the committee’s choosing,” the lawmakers wrote.

They added that the other committees reserved the right to issue their own subpoenas to compel Jensen Huang’s testimony.

U.S. authorities have investigated whether Megaspeed helped Chinese companies obtain advanced processors that U.S. export rules restrict.

Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress will serve as interim CEO of Nvidia. The company’s shares fell more than 12 percent by 9:19 a.m. ET on Thursday after the chipmaker’s announcement.

Reuters contributed to this report.