House leaders ask Jen-Hsun Huang to attend briefing to explain dealings with Chinese executives

Republican leaders of three influential House committees on Thursday asked Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to voluntarily attend a closed-door briefing about his dealings with an executive at a Singaporean company. U.S. officials determined that the executive passed information to Chinese intelligence agencies.

The request was made by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast, House Select Committee on China Chairman John Mueller, and Intelligence Select Committee Chairman Rick Crawford.

The New York Times reported last week that Jen-Hsun Huang has a close relationship with Megaspeed executive Alice Huang (Chinese name Huang Le, audio). The U.S. government suspects the company helped China circumvent U.S. bans and obtain Nvidia's artificial intelligence chips.

These House leaders asked Jen-Hsun Huang to attend a briefing on November 18 to explain his dealings with Huang Le and Nvidia's security policies to prevent espionage by foreign adversaries.

"It is critical that Congress determine the level of risk to U.S. national security," they wrote.

Nvidia spokesman John Rizzo declined to comment on whether Huang would attend. "Our CEO has an excellent security team who is available when needed," Rizzo said in the statement.

The request marks a shift among Republican congressional leaders. Previously, most of them followed President Trump and adopted a hands-off approach to the technology industry. Huang has developed a close relationship with Trump over the past two years, with the two often discussing technology issues.

The moves by the three Republicans also come after the midterm elections. Voters made it clear in the election that they are concerned about the impact of the tech industry on their lives, from the potential elimination of jobs by artificial intelligence to the construction of massive data centers in their communities.

Anti-tech sentiment has generally favored Democratic candidates, and Republicans' move Thursday was an early sign that they don't want to cede this politically powerful issue to Democrats.

U.S. spy agencies learned of the relationship through surveillance of Huang, raising alarms within the federal government that she might have gleaned important trade or national security information from Huang.

In April 2025, Mueller and the House Select Committee on China, which focuses on Beijing's national security threats, launched an investigation into Nvidia's chip sales in Asia.