Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang is confronting growing scrutiny from members of both parties in Congress following reports that he had a relationship with a woman alleged to have been recruited by Chinese intelligence.
Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware signaled his intent to pursue the matter in a post on X Saturday. "The more I learn about the insane relationship between the Trump Administration, Chinese spies, and AI billionaires, the more I'm convinced there is nothing this administration does that isn't corrupt," Coons wrote. "Congress will investigate and get answers." Coons is positioned to chair the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when Democrats assume control of the chamber in January.
On the Republican side, three House committee chairs sent Huang a letter on Wednesday asking him to participate in a closed-door briefing with lawmakers on Nov. 18, one day after Nvidia is set to release its third-quarter earnings. "Recent reports raise significant national security concerns regarding the [People's Republic of China's] access to sensitive U.S. technology and information," the GOP lawmakers wrote.
The reports center on Huang's alleged relationship with Alice Huang, a Chinese citizen who serves as an executive at Megaspeed, a Singapore-based technology company that U.S. officials have suspected of helping China evade restrictions on sales of artificial intelligence chips.
According to a New York Times report published Friday, 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 and described her relationship with Nvidia's chief executive.
Asked by the Times whether Huang would appear before lawmakers on the subject, Nvidia spokesman John Rizzo declined to comment. "Our chief executive has an outstanding security team that accompanies him where needed," Rizzo said in a statement. He added that the CEO's interactions with Alice Huang were consistent with meetings he has held with any of Nvidia's customers, according to the Times.
Separately, Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas amplified a Times report published Saturday revealing that the Trump administration had authorized a Chinese company, New Matrix, to assemble chips for Nvidia in Beijing. The Times found scant evidence of significant operations at the firm's listed address, even though the Commerce Department had cleared the arrangement for national security risks. Cornyn labeled the report "outrageous" in a post on X.
Democratic Rep. Seth Magaziner of Rhode Island, a member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, went further, demanding that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick testify before Congress in addition to Huang.
Neither Nvidia nor the Commerce Department immediately responded to CNBC's request for comment.
