Three House committee chairmen have asked Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to appear at a joint, closed-door briefing over his interactions with a Megaspeed executive publicly linked to Chinese intelligence. The request puts the chipmaker's safeguards against foreign espionage before lawmakers responsible for foreign affairs, intelligence and competition with China.
The letter concerns Alice Huang and Nvidia's security protocols. It describes her as a publicly reported Chinese intelligence asset, rather than announcing a new intelligence finding. Earlier reporting said U.S. officials did not believe Jensen Huang knew about her alleged intelligence activities.
Three committees want Huang in the room
The request was released on November 5, with the underlying letter dated November 4. Its signatories are Brian Mast, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee; John Moolenaar, chairman of the House Select Committee on China; and Rick Crawford, chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
They asked Huang to brief the committees on November 18 in room 2172 of the Rayburn House Office Building. He has been asked to accept that date or offer an alternative congressional session day by November 11.
In the letter, the chairmen wrote:
Recent reports raise significant national security concerns regarding the PRC’s access to sensitive U.S. technology and information.
Their stated focus covers two connected subjects: Huang's dealings with Alice Huang and the company's protections against foreign adversary espionage. Both the chief executive's interactions and Nvidia's internal safeguards are therefore on the proposed agenda.
The chairmen explained why they were seeking the briefing:
The issue of PRC infiltration and access to cutting-edge U.S. technology is core to the investigative work of our three committees this Congress. It is vital that Congress determines the extent to which U.S. national security has been placed at risk.
The published document is a request to appear, not a subpoena. It seeks a private briefing rather than a televised hearing and asks for alternative availability if the proposed date does not work.
Nvidia has defended the customer relationship
As previously reported by Apex, the allegations became public in an October 29 New York Times report about U.S. intelligence concerns. That account relied on unnamed sources and said Donald Trump had been briefed about the findings roughly a year earlier but chose not to act.
Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le, is not related to Nvidia's chief executive. She is linked to Singapore-based Megaspeed, which supplies AI computing services using Nvidia hardware.
Nvidia previously pushed back against suggestions that the relationship gave outsiders access to sensitive information. In its response covered by Apex, the company described Megaspeed as an ordinary regional cloud customer and said Jensen Huang meets thousands of customer executives each year.
A spokesperson said:
Megaspeed has been no different than many other regional cloud customers. Jensen’s interactions with Ms. Huang are not unusual or unexpected.
The company also said regional cloud customers receive ordinary business information rather than sensitive trade secrets or national security information. That defense addresses the significance of the customer relationship, which is now a subject of the committees' request.
The briefing would bring the dispute to Congress
The earlier reporting also described scrutiny of whether restricted Nvidia equipment could have reached China through Megaspeed. Nvidia said the diversion allegations against that customer had been investigated and debunked, as Apex previously reported.
Those chip-diversion claims and the allegations about Alice Huang are distinct questions. The new letter asks about espionage safeguards and her interactions with Jensen Huang; it does not publish evidence establishing an illegal shipment.
Nvidia has also said it regularly receives government updates about parties of concern and acts on them. The requested briefing would give the chairmen an opportunity to ask how the company's security protocols apply to its dealings with customers.