Former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Summoned to Congress Over Alleged Affair With Suspected Chinese Spy

Jensen Huang, who had been the public face of Nvidia since 1993, resigned abruptly as chief executive on Thursday. Within hours, the Senate Banking Committee moved to call him in. Chairman Tim Scott, a South Carolina Republican, sent letters that day to Huang and to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick asking both men to testify.

Scott asked Huang to appear voluntarily on 3 December and warned that the committee could issue a subpoena to compel his testimony. He posted on X that recent reports raised serious concerns about national security and the protection of sensitive US technology, and that the American people deserve answers. Separately, three House committees, covering intelligence, foreign affairs and China, sent Huang a letter asking for a closed-door interview on 1 December.

The trouble began on Sunday, when Huang admitted to having been unfaithful to his wife after reports of an affair with Alice Huang, who is no relation. She worked as an executive at the Singaporean firm Megaspeed. The New York Times reported that she is suspected of being an intelligence asset for China, an allegation China has rejected as a smear. US Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Thursday that the Justice Department has not yet reached any conclusion on whether she was spying for Beijing.

On Wednesday, a second relationship was reported. According to US media, it was with Kimberly Powell, a long-time Nvidia executive who reported directly to Huang. Sources told the BBC that employees had noticed the two were unusually close. Huang has been married to Lori Huang for 40 years, and both of their children are also Nvidia executives.

After the first report, Huang had been widely expected to ride it out, even as Nvidia announced an investigation into whether he had been the target of a foreign intelligence effort. One current employee told the BBC that rank-and-file staff largely brushed off the initial infidelity reports, and that the mood changed only when the second affair surfaced, when people began to feel that "this is crazy." Another employee said staff had been told not to speak to the press or comment publicly. Nvidia has repeatedly declined to comment since Wednesday, as did a personal representative for Huang on Thursday. The company has said it has no reason to believe national security or Nvidia secrets were compromised, but that its independent inquiry will examine all available information.

The markets reacted sharply. Nvidia lost $550bn (£415bn) in market value in five days, its worst five-day drop since it went public 27 years ago. Its value had risen more than 470% over five years and peaked only a few weeks ago; it is now down 31%, against a backdrop of wider uncertainty in the tech sector. Many employees have made millions of dollars by cashing out shares as the stock climbed.

That rise was led by Huang, a major booster of the AI industry. Nvidia's chips were first designed for computer gaming, but as AI evolved over the last four years into chatbots and large language models, companies building those tools needed them in huge numbers. Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress was named interim CEO on Thursday, and the company is searching for a permanent replacement.

Lutnick's summons stems from a separate matter. Unnamed Trump administration officials have been telling US media that he stalled efforts to tighten export restrictions on advanced AI chips to China. A Commerce Department spokesperson said Lutnick had "proactively" agreed to appear before the Senate Banking Committee in December.

Tech insiders told the BBC that Huang's downfall has been a major topic of conversation in the San Francisco Bay area. The next markers are the 1 December House interview, the 3 December Senate hearing, whether a subpoena is needed, and the findings of Nvidia's independent inquiry.