Nvidia pushes back after Jensen Huang asked to closed-door meeting in Congress over ties to Chinese 'asset'

Nvidia has pushed back after chief executive Jensen Huang was asked to appear before the US Congress to discuss his interactions with an alleged Chinese intelligence asset.

A representative for the powerful US-based AI and chip design company did not say whether Mr Huang would agree to attend the meeting with members of Congress, who requested his presence following reports that the Nvidia boss met with an executive of a Singapore company who is believed to have passed along information to China.

“Our regional cloud customers receive ordinary business information – not sensitive Nvidia trade secrets – and zero information relevant to national security,” the Nvidia representative said.

The House of Representatives select committee on the Chinese Communist Party had sent a letter to Mr Huang to request that he appear for a closed-door briefing.

The letter, dated Wednesday and signed by the chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, says Congress is seeking to learn more about “Nvidia's security protocols against foreign adversary espionage” as well as his reported “interactions” with Megaspeed executive Alice Huang.

Republican Representatives Brian Mast, John Moolenaar and Eric Crawford told the Nvidia boss in the letter that they have long been concerned about alleged Chinese espionage and the potential for it to result in the country getting access to “cutting-edge US technology”.

“Congress determines the extent to which US national security has been placed at risk,” the letter concluded, asking for Mr Huang to appear and discuss his interactions with the alleged Chinese asset on November 18 behind closed doors.

The Nvidia representative told The National that the company has a robust security team that travels with its chief executive “when needed”, and that the company always acts accordingly when it receives updates from the US government about entities of concern.

“We're confident that if the US government believes that any person is a threat to American industry, it would let us know,” the representative added.

Mr Huang has become a familiar face in the halls of power in Washington over the past year, as he lobbied officials on US technology export policies.

Show caption: Nvidia and other tech companies have been under scrutiny in …

Needless to say, his next visit to Washington could be a less pleasant one. Nvidia's push for relaxed export policies to China with regard to semiconductors has led to increased scrutiny in recent years.

Company executives have insisted that strict export policies designed to improve the US lead over China in AI actually hurt the country and incentivise Beijing to use its own technology and develop in-house infrastructure.

Critics say that by loosening export restrictions, the US is giving away its most important advantage to an adversary.

The letter to Mr Huang was sent a day after Republicans lost control of Congress in the midterm elections.

Many Democrats across the country campaigned on trying to hold Big Tech executives more accountable, pushing for AI regulation and casting a critical eye on data centres – and all this might be bad news for Nvidia and Mr Huang.

Democrats have also indicated that they will intensify investigations into what they view as the largely unregulated tech sector during President Donald Trump's second term.

On Wednesday, Mr Blumenthal issued a notice to people, companies and government agencies that have “failed to co-operate” with a range of inquiries, including investigations into Big Tech and cryptocurrency. The notice said failure to produce requested records and information by January 4 would lead the committee to consider “alternative measures”.

“Blumenthal is leading an inquiry into Big Tech companies and others who may be seeking pay-to-play government favours from their donations to President Trump’s White House ballroom and other projects,” a news release from Mr Blumenthal's office read.

Democratic Representative Robert Garcia, who will soon be in charge of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, was a bit more succinct following the midterms.

“LAWYER UP,” he wrote on social media.