Jensen Huang has until 8 p.m. Eastern on Friday, Nov. 13, to agree in writing to a closed-door interview with three House committees on Dec. 1, or the House Foreign Affairs Committee will subpoena him. The deadline is in a letter the three chairmen sent Thursday, the same day Nvidia announced he had resigned as CEO.
In the Senate, Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott of South Carolina asked Huang to testify at a public hearing on Dec. 3 and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to appear Dec. 10. Scott posted both letters on X. The letters cite public reports about Huang's contacts with an executive of Megaspeed, a Singapore company that bought Nvidia chips. Banking Committee Democrats describe that executive as a suspected Chinese intelligence operative.
The December schedule
| Who | Committee | Date | Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jensen Huang | House Foreign Affairs, Select Committee on the CCP and Intelligence | Dec. 1 | Closed-door, transcribed interview |
| Jeffrey Kessler, Commerce Department | House Foreign Affairs | Dec. 3, 10 a.m. | Hearing |
| Jensen Huang | Senate Banking | Dec. 3 | Public hearing |
| Howard Lutnick | Senate Banking | Dec. 10 | Public hearing |
Reps. Brian Mast, John Moolenaar and Rick Crawford, who chair Foreign Affairs, the China select committee and the Intelligence Committee, signed the House letter. It follows their earlier request for a closed-door briefing, which Edit USA covered on Nov. 7. The chairmen say they spoke with Nvidia staff Wednesday and offered the new date "as an accommodation to reflect recent events." Other committees, they added, "reserve the right to separately issue subpoenas."
What the letters ask
Mast wants Kessler, the under secretary of commerce for industry and security, to testify about smuggled chips, the use of advanced AI chips by adversaries' militaries, "reported interference by private companies into export control policy and enforcement investigations," and Megaspeed, according to his invitation.
Scott's letters cite the Banking Committee's jurisdiction over export controls under Senate rules and the Export Control Reform Act of 2018. His request to Huang is voluntary for now. "Should you fail to appear before the Committee on a voluntary basis, the Committee is prepared to use all tools at our disposal, including subpoenas," he wrote. The Lutnick letter asks the secretary to address "the Department of Commerce's role."
Nvidia's board opened its own investigation earlier this month, which Edit USA reported on Nov. 8.
