Jensen Huang Agrees to Testify to Congress, Lawmaker Says
Rep. Brian Mast says the former Nvidia CEO will testify before Thanksgiving, likely behind closed doors, after lawmakers threatened a subpoena.
Jensen Huang, the former chief executive of Nvidia, has agreed to testify before Congress before Thanksgiving, according to Rep. Brian Mast, the Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Bloomberg and TechCrunch reported the news, and the testimony is expected to take place largely behind closed doors.
TechCrunch reported that Huang agreed on Wednesday, after several senior lawmakers had threatened to subpoena him. Neither Huang nor Nvidia, the AI chip maker he co-founded, was quoted in the coverage reviewed beyond his agreement to appear. The date of the testimony has not been announced.
What happened
On Nov. 4, three House Republican committee chairs sent Huang a letter asking him to appear before their panels. They were Mast; Rep. John Moolenaar, chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party; and Rep. Rick Crawford, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. News outlets reported the request centered on Huang’s reported contacts with a woman that U.S. authorities were said to suspect of working for Chinese intelligence.
Fortune reported that Huang acknowledged on a Sunday this month that he had been unfaithful to his wife, after a New York Times report about the relationship. Nvidia’s board opened an investigation, and said it had “no reason to believe that either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised,” according to Fortune. Neither the woman nor any company has been charged with a crime in the reporting reviewed, and the claims about her have not been proven in court.
Huang later left the company. In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission dated Nov. 12, Nvidia said Huang had resigned as president, CEO and board member, effective immediately. The filing gave no reason and included no statement from him. Colette Kress, Nvidia’s chief financial officer, became interim CEO while remaining CFO, and Harvey C. Jones was named the board’s first chair. The board said it had “full confidence in Colette and the leadership team.”
What lawmakers said
TechCrunch reported that Mast expects the session to be closed to the public, recorded on video and transcribed. Mast said he and Huang have clashed over export controls, the U.S. rules limiting sales of advanced chips to China. He also said Nvidia is “a very important company to the United States of America,” according to TechCrunch, and that he does not want to harm it. But he said Huang “has some very serious questions to answer.”
Earlier reports said Mast told ABC News he would subpoena Huang if he did not respond. A subpoena is a legal order compelling testimony. Congressional letters like the Nov. 4 request are voluntary. In June, Huang declined an invitation from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, to testify about Nvidia’s chip sales to China, according to search results from People Matters.
Why it matters
Nvidia is one of the world’s most valuable companies and a central supplier of the chips used to train artificial intelligence systems. Fortune reported that its shares fell more than 4% on the Monday after Huang’s admission. The lawmakers’ scrutiny also lands in a broader debate in Washington over how much advanced technology American companies should sell to China.
What comes next
The exact date and format of Huang’s appearance are not confirmed, and it is not clear which committees will take part or whether any portion will be public. Nvidia has said it will report third-quarter fiscal 2027 results on Nov. 17, as previously scheduled, and its board is searching for a permanent CEO from internal and external candidates.
Huang has not publicly responded to the allegations about the woman’s suspected links to Chinese intelligence beyond his acknowledgment of the relationship, according to the reports reviewed. Nvidia’s board has said its inquiry will examine all available information, and no findings have been released.
