Lutnick agrees to testify as Senate probes Nvidia chip sales to China
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick agreed to testify before the Senate Banking Committee on December 10, as lawmakers examine whether Nvidia's advanced AI chips reached China and whether export controls were enforced.
Two hearings in December
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has agreed to testify before the Senate Banking Committee, after Chairman Tim Scott asked him to appear on December 10, according to NBC News. Scott also asked former Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang to appear on December 3.
Both men received letters on Thursday evening asking them to testify about recent reports on Nvidia and the Commerce Department's role that raise national security concerns. "Secretary Lutnick has proactively agreed to appear voluntarily before the Banking Committee to address their questions," Kristen Eichamer, a spokesperson for Lutnick, told NBC News on Thursday. The hearings will examine whether Nvidia supplied advanced artificial intelligence chips to Chinese companies, and whether the Commerce Department did enough to restrict the supply.
The scandal behind the summons
Huang resigned as Nvidia chief executive on Thursday after acknowledging an affair with an executive at Megaspeed, a Singapore-based company that has bought more than $4.8 billion of advanced Nvidia AI chips over the past two years. Reports have described the executive, Alice Huang, as an alleged Chinese spy, and lawmakers say the reports raise national security concerns.
Lawmakers are now examining two questions together: whether Nvidia supplied advanced chips to Chinese companies, and whether the Commerce Department enforced export controls strictly enough. The department's oversight of Nvidia chip exports to China and its enforcement of export controls are now under bipartisan scrutiny.
- Lutnick hearingDecember 10
- Huang hearingDecember 3
- Megaspeed chip purchasesMore than $4.8 billion
- Companies left off the trade blacklistMore than 100
Bipartisan pressure on export controls
Scrutiny of the Commerce Department is bipartisan. Senator Jim Banks said Lutnick "appears to have used loopholes to allow some of these chip sales to occur," in an appearance on Fox News on Thursday. Senator Elizabeth Warren said Lutnick and Under Secretary Jeffrey Kessler must explain why they have not closed export control loopholes.
Senator Ron Wyden and Representative Richard E. Neal told Lutnick they were investigating approvals of sales of Nvidia chips to companies with links to the Chinese government, military and sanctioned entities. Representative Brian Mast said Congress needed to investigate the Commerce Department's role in approving AI chip exports to China, while adding that he had confidence in Lutnick. Criticism is also mounting over the administration's decision not to include more than 100 companies flagged as national security risks on a trade blacklist, including AI startup DeepSeek and memory chipmaker CXMT, Reuters reported in June.
