Senior lawmakers threatened to subpoena Jensen Huang if he refused to cooperate, and Wednesday night he agreed Wednesday night to appear before Congress. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast said the testimony is expected before Thanksgiving, according to TechCrunch.
Three committees are driving the request: Mast’s House Foreign Affairs Committee, the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party chaired by John Moolenaar, and the House Intelligence Committee chaired by Rick Crawford. The lawmakers sent Huang a letter on November 4 requesting his appearance, according to TechCrunch.
Closed-Door Session, Likely Under Oath
Mast said the testimony will be conducted behind closed doors, with the session expected to be recorded and transcribed. CNBC reported the session will likely occur under oath, though the final date and format are still being negotiated.
Export Controls Are Central to the Inquiry
Mast said Huang has “very serious questions to answer” and pointed to disagreements over export controls as a specific concern, while also describing Nvidia as an important U.S. company, according to TechCrunch. That framing suggests lawmakers may examine Nvidia’s commercial interests in China alongside the national security allegations.
Nvidia’s advanced chips are a primary target of U.S. efforts to restrict China’s access to AI computing infrastructure. Congressional scrutiny of Huang’s export-policy positions could inform how that policy develops going forward.
The Allegations That Triggered the Crisis
U.S. intelligence officials reportedly suspect that Alice Huang, a former executive at Singapore-based data-center company Megaspeed, was connected to Chinese intelligence. These remain reported allegations, not established findings. Beijing has formally rejected them, according to the BBC.
Nvidia’s board accepted Huang’s resignation after reports of two alleged affairs, one involving Alice Huang. CFO Colette Kress was named interim CEO, and the board launched an independent investigation into whether Huang had been targeted by a foreign intelligence effort.
What the Testimony Could Reveal
The congressional session could bring three issues under examination at once: Nvidia’s leadership transition, its contacts involving China, and its role in semiconductor export policy. The available reporting does not establish that Huang or Nvidia violated U.S. law.
The board said it has no reason to believe national security or company secrets were compromised. Nvidia has not publicly addressed the scope of its internal investigation, and no timeline for its conclusion has been reported.
