Senate Summons Former Nvidia CEO Over China Spy Allegations

Senator Tim Scott and other congressional leaders have summoned former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to testify before the Senate Banking Committee. The inquiry follows reports that Huang had an affair with Alice Huang, a Chinese businesswoman and Megaspeed executive identified by U.S. officials as a recruit of China's primary spy agency.

Lawmakers are investigating if this relationship compromised national security and whether the Department of Commerce utilized loopholes to permit Nvidia to sell advanced AI chips to China. Secretary Lutnick is under scrutiny for allegedly ignoring a classified memo from Secretary of State Marco Rubio warning about the relationship. While Jensen Huang resigned as CEO on November 13, 2026, bipartisan leaders including Senator Elizabeth Warren and Senator Chuck Schumer insist he must still provide answers.

The controversy coincides with warnings from Ben Buchanan, a former White House special advisor for Artificial Intelligence, who argued that maintaining export controls on AI chips to China is essential to protect the American lead. Buchanan criticized the Trump administration for failing to enforce the Biden administration's diffusion rule, a policy intended to prevent advanced technology from reaching adversaries.