U.S. lawmakers summon Nvidia former CEO after affair with suspected spy

U.S. lawmakers have called Jensen Huang, an architect of the artificial intelligence boom, to face their questions in December after the Nvidia ex-CEO quit over extramarital affairs, including one with a suspected Chinese spy.

The scandal has wiped almost half a trillion dollars off Nvidia’s market valuation, as it raises national security fears and leaves the AI industry in uncharted waters. “Recent reports raise serious concerns about our national security and the protection of sensitive US technology,” Republican Senator Tim Scott wrote on Thursday (November 12, 2026) on X.

Mr. Scott said he was requesting mR. Huang and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to testify in December before the Senate Banking Committee, which he chairs. Who is Colette Kress? Nvidia's new interim CEO following Jensen Huang’s exit Former Nvidia CEO Huang had a relationship with a second employee, sources say Untangling Nvidia chief Jensen Huang’s Chinese spy connection It joins a call for a closed-door interview with the leather-jacketed, 63-year-old Huang on December 1 by three House of Representatives committees, on threat of subpoena.

Huang, who has been married to his wife Lori for over 40 years, admitted Sunday to an affair, reportedly with Alice Huang, a former senior executive at Singapore-based data center company Megaspeed. The two are not related.

U.S. intelligence reportedly circulated a memo this spring alleging she was an asset of China’s Ministry of State Security. Beijing has rejected the allegations. On Wednesday, The New York Times reported a second affair, citing video of Huang being affectionate with Nvidia’s vice president of health care, Kimberly Powell.

While Nvidia’s board searches for a permanent successor to Huang, who spent 33 years at the helm of the firm he co-founded, chief Financial Officer Colette Kress will serve as interim CEO. Nvidia hit gold when the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in 2022 sparked a global rush to develop AI, with its processors — once designed for video game graphics — becoming a crucial ingredient to train and run the technology.

Nvidia did not give a reason for the departure of Huang, who also gave up his board seat. Huang is Nvidia’s largest individual shareholder, with a stake of about 3.6 percent, according to the company. The Taiwanese-born businessman was a close informal adviser to President Donald Trump on AI, and had spent years lobbying against curbs on sales of advanced AI chips to China for national security reasons.

Dan Ives of investment bank Yorkville Ives called it “a dark day for Nvidia and the US tech industry”. But he said the board had done what it needed: “rip off the band-aid and take Nvidia into its next chapter without him.”