Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott (R-S.C.) on Thursday asked former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to testify before the panel.
Scott sent letters to both men about recent developments at the chipmaker and announced the request on X, saying recent reports raise serious concerns about national security and the protection of sensitive U.S. technology.
“The American people deserve answers,” he wrote.
The request came the same day Nvidia announced Huang’s resignation, which came after he admitted on Nov. 8 to an extramarital affair with an alleged Chinese spy, Alice Huang, who is not related to him.
Lutnick’s Commerce Department oversees U.S. export controls, and a growing number of lawmakers are criticizing whether it properly oversaw those experts.
They object to the administration’s refusal to add dozens of Chinese companies to the department’s Entity List, a trade blacklist, and ask whether the government properly oversaw Nvidia’s exports to China. The list has had no additions since October 2025, the longest gap in more than a decade.
Megaspeed, the Singapore-based company where Alice Huang was an executive, is not on the list.
Lawmakers also questioned the December 2025 decision to let Nvidia sell advanced H200 chips to China in exchange for a cut of the sales. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.) called the arrangement “an unconstitutional export tax.” Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.) told the administration to preserve all records on the chip exports. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) told CNN that Lutnick must answer questions about the sales.
Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress will serve as interim CEO of Nvidia. The company’s shares fell more than 12 percent by 9:19 a.m. ET on Thursday after the chipmaker’s announcement.
Reuters contributed to this report .
This story will be updated with additional details.
