Jensen Huang to Testify Behind Closed Doors Before U.S. House Next Week ... Senate Also to Investigate

[Financial News] Jensen Huang, former CEO of NVIDIA, who stepped down on the 12th (local time) amid allegations of an affair with a Chinese spy, is expected to attend a closed-door briefing before the U.S. Congress as early as next week. Congress plans to continue investigating the scandal even after Huang's resignation.
According to CNN, Brian Mast (Republican-Florida), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told reporters on the 12th that Jensen Huang had tentatively agreed the previous day to appear before Congress. Huang is expected to testify behind closed doors before key standing committees.
Mast said he was prepared to issue a subpoena if Huang suddenly changed his mind and failed to appear. He said that if Huang appeared, “he would at a minimum testify under oath, and a record of his statements and a video recording would be made.” However, it has not yet been confirmed whether Huang will be sworn in or whether his testimony will be made public.
The New York Times (NYT) previously reported on the 29th of last month that Jensen Huang was having an affair with Chinese businesswoman Alice Huang (Chinese name: Huang Le). The newspaper said the U.S. government considers Alice Huang a spy with China's Ministry of State Security and concluded that she had leaked information about Huang and NVIDIA to China. Other U.S. media outlets alleged that Alice Huang used her personal ties with Huang to smuggle large quantities of NVIDIA artificial intelligence (AI) products, whose export to China is banned, into the country. Jensen Huang announced on the 12th that he would resign as CEO.
After the incident came to light, the House Foreign Affairs and Intelligence Committees and the Select Committee on U.S.-China Strategic Competition (hereafter, the China Committee) called on Jensen Huang to appear before Congress and testify. Mast said, “I am also interested in hearing testimony from other NVIDIA divisions connected to Jensen and his work,” and mentioned the possibility of additional NVIDIA officials being subpoenaed.
Also on the 12th, China Committee Chairman John Moolenaar (Republican-Michigan) said it was necessary to hear Jensen Huang's testimony, adding, “It is important to understand how Chinese intelligence agencies operated, what information—particularly what classified information—they could access, and what lobbying they conducted regarding specific policies.”
Moolenaar noted that Jensen Huang “was one of the strongest opponents of export controls on NVIDIA's most advanced semiconductors.” He continued, “Jensen Huang's departure changes the dynamics, but he has criticized those who consider export controls justified. I hope he will appear in person and discuss matters related to him with us.”
The investigation into Jensen Huang is set to take place in the Senate as well as the House. According to U.S. broadcaster CNBC, Republican Senate floor leader John Thune (South Dakota) spoke to reporters on the 12th about the investigation into Huang. He said, “I expect follow-up action in this situation, where truly serious risks to national security are at stake.”
Elizabeth Warren, the Senate Banking Committee's ranking Democrat (Massachusetts), who is expected to chair the committee in the new Congress set to convene on Jan. 3 next year, also asserted in a statement that Jensen Huang's resignation “does not absolve Jensen Huang, other executives, or the company as a whole of responsibility for putting our national security at risk or for potential violations of the law.”


[email protected] Park Jong-won Reporter