WASHINGTON (The Thursday Times) — Jensen Huang has agreed to answer questions from US lawmakers about his relationship with a woman American officials suspect of spying for China, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee said on Thursday, the same day Huang resigned as Nvidia’s chief executive.
Brian Mast said Huang had agreed on Wednesday to appear before three House committees. The session will be held behind closed doors, but Mast said he expected it to be recorded on video and transcribed. House Republicans said the appearance was expected before Thanksgiving, which falls on November 26.
“Jensen and I have been very at odds as some of you already know on export controls,” Mast said. “Nvidia is a very important company to the United States of America. I don’t want to see anything hurt in Nvidia, but he has some very serious questions to answer.”
John Moolenaar, who chairs the House select committee on China, said no date had been fixed yet. “We are in discussions with him right now on a date to come and meet with us,” he said, adding that Huang’s resignation “does change the dynamic” and that the aim was to bring him in “as soon as possible”.
What lawmakers want to know
Mast, Moolenaar, and Rick Crawford, who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, wrote to Huang on November 4 asking for a closed-door briefing with all three committees. They said they wanted to discuss Nvidia’s safeguards against foreign espionage and Huang’s dealings with a person publicly reported to be a Chinese intelligence asset. The chairs had said they would use subpoenas if he did not come voluntarily.
Pressure is also building in the Senate. Senator Kevin Cramer has said he would support a subpoena, the Senate majority leader, John Thune, said testimony from Huang “would make sense”, and the minority leader, Chuck Schumer, said Congress needed answers from Huang and others at Nvidia, as well as from the Trump administration. Republicans hold both chambers until the new Congress sits in January.
Huang has not commented publicly on the appearance.
From chief executive to witness
Nvidia’s board said on Thursday that Huang had stepped down as president, chief executive, and a director with immediate effect, and named the chief financial officer, Colette Kress, as interim chief executive. The resignation came a day after reports that the board was preparing to remove him.
US intelligence agencies believe Huang was targeted in a Chinese espionage effort through his relationship with Alice Huang, a former executive of Megaspeed, a Singapore-based data centre company that is under investigation in the United States and Singapore over allegations that it smuggled advanced chips barred from export into China. She is not related to him. China’s foreign ministry has called the spying allegations baseless, and Megaspeed has denied any wrongdoing.
President Donald Trump, who has praised Huang’s record at the company, said on Thursday that Apple’s Tim Cook should take his place. Nvidia is due to report its third-quarter results on November 17.
