Jensen Huang Will Testify Before Congress by Thanksgiving

Jensen Huang, who resigned as NVIDIA's CEO and president with immediate effect on Wednesday, has agreed to testify before Congress by Thanksgiving after lawmakers threatened him with a subpoena. House Foreign Affairs Chairman Brian Mast confirmed the agreement on the same day NVIDIA announced Huang's departure, according to House representatives. The hearing will bring together three committees: Foreign Affairs, Intelligence, and the China-focused panel.

Mast told reporters that he expects the proceedings to take place behind closed doors, though he anticipates they will be filmed and transcribed, according to Bloomberg. The closed format means the public will not see the testimony directly as it happens. The transcript, if released, would become the primary public record of what Huang says.

What Did Brian Mast Say About the Hearing?

Mast has been one of Huang's most prominent critics on Capitol Hill, and his comments frame the stakes of the upcoming testimony. He acknowledged both the friction and the company's strategic weight in the same breath.

"Jensen and I have been very at odds as some of you already know on export controls, but NVIDIA is a very important company to the United States of America," Mast said. "I don't want to see anything hurt in NVIDIA, but he has some very serious questions to answer."

The quote captures the central tension for Washington. NVIDIA, the dominant supplier of the graphics processors (GPUs) that train and run artificial intelligence systems, sits at the intersection of US economic power and national security policy. Export controls (US government restrictions on selling advanced chips to China) have repeatedly put the company at odds with lawmakers who argue its hardware is too strategically important to sell freely abroad.

Why Did Huang Step Down?

Huang's resignation caps a week of escalating crisis at NVIDIA. Over the weekend, reports emerged that the company was investigating Huang over an affair he admitted to, allegedly with a woman suspected of being a Chinese spy. President Donald Trump said the FBI is investigating the situation as well, adding a federal law enforcement dimension to what began as an internal corporate matter.

On Wednesday, another report surfaced: Huang had a second affair, this time with Kimberly Powell, an NVIDIA executive who reported directly to him. The company's board met later that day to determine Huang's future. The outcome was his immediate exit from the roles of CEO and president.

Colette Kress, NVIDIA's executive vice president and chief financial officer, steps in as interim CEO while the board searches for a permanent successor. Kress, as CFO, has been the public face of NVIDIA's financial reporting to investors; she now inherits a company under simultaneous corporate, congressional, and federal scrutiny.

The leadership change comes at a moment when NVIDIA's chips are arguably the most contested commercial technology in the world, which is precisely why the circumstances of Huang's departure have drawn attention from the Foreign Affairs, Intelligence, and China committees rather than only financial regulators.

Who Is Alice Huang and What Are the Smuggling Investigations?

The alleged spy at the center of the scandal, identified as Alice Huang, is now the subject of multiple investigations across at least two jurisdictions.

The Department of Justice is reportedly investigating whether entities associated with her were involved in attempts to smuggle Super Micro Computer products to China. The DoJ is also said to be leading an investigation into her former company, Megaspeed International, a Singapore-based firm, over alleged smuggling of US-made chips into China in defiance of export restrictions. The company said it would cooperate with the probe.

These investigations matter beyond the personal scandal. If US-made chips moved into China through channels linked to Alice Huang, the case becomes evidence in the broader debate over whether export controls on advanced semiconductors are enforceable — the same debate that put Mast and Jensen Huang "very at odds."

Singapore has been acting in parallel. Officials there opened an investigation into Alice Huang, Megaspeed, and associated individuals last year. The Ministry of Home Affairs said in a statement on Thursday that police barred her from re-entering the country after determining she had knowingly offered inaccurate information to downplay her role in Megaspeed.

The ministry, however, drew a line at criminal charges against her personally. It said investigators "concluded that there was insufficient evidence to establish that Huang had committed any offences relating to the possible inaccurate declarations for which Megaspeed was being investigated." The investigation into Megaspeed itself, and into six other individuals, remains ongoing.

What Happens Before Thanksgiving?

The timeline is now fixed on two dates: Huang's testimony before Congress by Thanksgiving, and the ongoing investigations by the FBI, the DoJ, and Singaporean authorities that will continue regardless of what happens on the Hill.

For NVIDIA, the immediate question is succession — the board's search for a permanent CEO will unfold while its former leader answers questions from three committees about export controls and his personal conduct. For policymakers, the hearing offers the first chance to question Huang directly on record about the circumstances that ended his tenure, in a case that ties together corporate governance, alleged espionage, and the enforcement of US chip export law at one of the country's most valuable companies.