Nvidia's Huang is asked to brief Congress on reported Chinese spy relationship

Three House Republican committee leaders asked Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to sit for a closed-door briefing on his relationship with a tech executive reportedly identified as a Chinese intelligence asset.

"Recent reports raise significant national security concerns regarding the PRC's access to sensitive U.S. technology and information," the GOP lawmakers wrote in a letter to Huang unveiled Thursday, using the acronym for the People's Republic of China.

They are seeking information on Huang's interactions with Megaspeed executive Alice Huang, as well as Nvidia's "security protocols against foreign adversary espionage," they wrote in the brief message, which is dated Wednesday.

The letter does not specify which reports it is referring to. But The New York Times reported last week that U.S. intelligence found Alice Huang, a Chinese citizen determined to be funneling information to Beijing, had "developed a close relationship" with Jensen Huang.

President Donald Trump, who himself has forged close ties with Jensen Huang as he champions the U.S. artificial intelligence industry, was briefed about a year ago on those intelligence findings, the Times reported.

Trump "chose not to do anything with the information," according to the newspaper, which cited interviews with people briefed on the surveillance and other sources.

The letter to Huang was signed by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast, R-Fla., Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar, R-Mich., and House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Rick Crawford, R-Ark.

Nvidia did not directly respond when asked by CNBC to comment on the letter and confirm whether Huang would attend the lawmakers' proposed briefing.

Nvidia instead provided a statement that largely mirrored the one it previously sent the Times, in which a spokesperson suggested Jensen Huang's interactions with Alice Huang were no different from his meetings with other executive clients.

"Our regional cloud customers receive ordinary business information — not sensitive NVIDIA trade secrets—and zero information relevant to national security," the spokesperson said in the statement.

"Meetings with customers are part of a CEO's job; Jensen talks with thousands of customer executives every year," the spokesperson said. "We're confident that if the U.S. government believes that any person is a threat to American industry, it would let us know."

A spokeswoman for Mast did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for additional information. Megaspeed did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

The lawmakers invited the Nvidia CEO to appear for an in-person joint briefing on Nov. 18. Nvidia is scheduled to report its third-quarter earnings on Nov. 17.

"China's access to that sensitive U.S. tech is core to the investigative work of our three committees this Congress," the committee leaders wrote. "It is vital that Congress determines the extent to which U.S. national security has been placed at risk."