Congressional committees ask Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to testify next week

Nvidia board opens independent review of reported foreign intelligence effort

The Republican-led foreign affairs and intelligence committees of the US Congress have asked Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang to testify next week at a closed-door briefing on the company’s “security protocols against foreign adversary espionage.”

The request responded to an October New York Times report that alleged Huang had a close relationship with a Chinese businesswoman who passed information to Beijing.

The Guardian reported that Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le and unrelated to Jensen Huang, is an executive at Singapore-based datacenter company Megaspeed. Alice Huang had previously been suspected of smuggling Nvidia chips to China, which prompted American officials to surveil and monitor her.

The New York Times reported, citing unnamed sources, that American officials determined Alice Huang was acting as a Chinese intelligence asset and passing commercial information to Beijing.

The Times also reported on Sunday that a memo drafted by US secretary of state Marco Rubio circulated among top policymakers in the Trump administration last spring. The memo cited intelligence that the businesswoman who had a relationship with Huang was a spy for China’s ministry of state security, the Times reported.

Separately, Nvidia said Sunday that it “is initiating an independent investigation in light of recent reporting that founder and CEO Jensen Huang has been the target of a foreign intelligence effort.”

In a statement, Nvidia’s board said it had no reason to believe that US national security or Nvidia secrets had been compromised and that its inquiry would examine all available information. “The Board prioritizes US national and economic security, which is paramount to the interests of NVIDIA and its shareholders,” the company said. “The Board has confidence in Jensen and his leadership team and will provide further updates as appropriate.” The company added that Huang fully supported the review and had committed to cooperating.

Axios reported on Sunday, citing a draft email Huang wrote to employees, that Huang admitted to having a romantic relationship with a suspected Chinese spy and took full responsibility for his actions. Reuters also saw the draft. In the draft, Huang wrote: “I was unfaithful to my wife. My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did.” Nvidia did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Axios report.

Despite the reported concerns, Huang and his wife, Lori Huang, were invited to a White House state dinner in September for Xi Jinping, China’s president, and were seated at the top table with Donald Trump and Xi. Apple’s Tim Cook also sat at the top table, and Trump hosted the dinner.

The Guardian reported that national security concerns had prompted strict US export controls, effectively barring Nvidia from selling its top-tier processors to customers in China. US officials cited threats to the US supply chain and fears over national security risks as the rationale for the restrictions. The Trump administration had imposed restrictions on exports of advanced AI chips to China as a matter of national security, and Megaspeed’s Alice Huang was suspected of helping the government get around those restrictions. US treasury secretary Scott Bessent also suggested that China could be sanctioned for theft of US data and intellectual property.

The Guardian characterized Nvidia’s powerful chips as “a cornerstone of the AI boom” and said that position placed Jensen Huang in “one of the most influential leadership positions in the industry.” The outlet also reported that Huang had developed a close partnership with Trump as the US government attempted to defend its position as a leader in AI development.

The investigation followed what The Guardian described as a rough few days on Wall Street for AI technology firms, particularly Nvidia. A sell-off of technology stocks that began earlier this month and gained momentum with disappointing earnings cut nearly $1tn from the value of the tech-heavy Nasdaq in one week and erased about $2tn in a month. Nvidia fell 3.1%; The Guardian described that drop as “the heaviest force pulling the S&P 500 downward recently.” Nvidia had previously been worth about $5tn.

According to Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis data, the raw S&P 500 index stood at 7,353.73 on Nov. 8, 2026.

Robert Mackey, Nick Robins-Early and Blake Montgomery contributed reporting.