US lawmakers seek testimony from Nvidia CEO amid spy allegations
Congressional committees have asked Nvidia chief Jensen Huang to appear for a closed-door briefing after reports that his former partner may have worked for Chinese intelligence, while the company says no secrets were compromised.
United States House committees on foreign affairs, intelligence and commerce have issued a request for Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to attend a closed-door briefing and warned that a subpoena could be issued if he does not respond by the end of Wednesday. The move follows media reports that Huang’s former partner, Alice Huang, a former executive of Singapore-based Megaspeed, was allegedly recruited by Chinese intelligence to gather information and influence the CEO’s stance on U.S. chip-export restrictions.
In a Sunday statement, Jensen Huang apologized to his family and Nvidia employees for the affair and said the company had launched an independent investigation that found no evidence that national security or Nvidia secrets were compromised. Nevertheless, media outlets reported that Nvidia was preparing to separate from Huang over the controversy.
President Donald Trump confirmed that the FBI is examining the matter but described Huang as “an honourable guy.” Republican Senator Kevin Cramer called for Huang’s resignation, saying the “potential for extortion is so tremendous that something as sensitive as Nvidia chips, I just think he’s got to go.”
Experts highlighted the national-security implications of Nvidia’s advanced AI chips, which have been subject to U.S. export controls since 2022. According to U.S. intelligence officials cited by The New York Times, Alice Huang was tasked with persuading Jensen Huang to lobby for looser export restrictions. Huang has previously argued that easing limits would strengthen China’s domestic chip industry.
Ryan Fedasiuk, a fellow at the Foundation for American Innovation, noted that Nvidia had contacted the Commerce Department about an investigation into Megaspeed and may have underreported the value of chips sold to the firm, which purchased more than $4.8 billion of Nvidia products over two years. He said, "The question at hand is whether Nvidia took specific actions with respect to Megaspeed that it might not otherwise have done, possibly as a result of the personal relationship between the two executives."
Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow Jessica Brandt warned that information about Nvidia’s China-specific chip designs and policy discussions could help foreign actors anticipate future controls. Fedasiuk added, "I have to wonder what kind of information about those people and about those relationships may have inadvertently made its way to Ms Huang or to Chinese intelligence."
No public evidence has yet shown that Alice Huang accessed sensitive Nvidia data or that she influenced corporate decisions. China’s foreign ministry rejected the espionage claims, with spokesperson Guo Jiakun calling them “a smear campaign against China.”