Two senior Democratic senators are demanding Trump administration preserve records on Nvidia and China as pressure mounts on Jensen Huang
Elizabeth Warren and Chris Coons are calling for the preservation of communications and documents regarding chip exports and the CEO's relationship with an executive suspected of having ties to Chinese intelligence. According to the WSJ, Nvidia's board was preparing to oust him.
NVIDIA's stock price rises on a phone displaying the company's logo
The scandal surrounding Jensen Huang has already reached Capitol Hill. Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Chris Coons sent a letter to the Trump administration urging it not to destroy any documents related to Nvidia's chip sales to China or to the CEO's connection to a woman who allegedly worked for that country's intelligence services, as revealed by The Wall Street Journal.
The letter is addressed to the Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick; the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio; and White House Chief of Staff, Stephen Miller. The senators are asking them to confirm by Tuesday that they have instructed their staff to preserve all communications and records related to the matter. This is a standard procedure that typically precedes a formal investigation, the WSJ reported.
Warren and Coons will be the next chairs of the Senate Banking and Foreign Relations committees, which oversee export controls on sensitive technology. "This incident raises significant concerns about the federal government’s ability to effectively enforce our export controls and protect our national security," they stated.
What they are asking for
The list includes security and intelligence materials regarding the alleged Chinese operation and Huang, communications between Nvidia and the federal government (including contacts with Trump himself), and everything related to chip export control policy. The scope suggests that the interest is not limited to a possible security breach, but also that they want to know if there were conflicts of interest. Huang built a close relationship with the president and personally presented his views on chips and artificial intelligence policy to him.
Pressure from Both Parties
The case does not divide Washington along party lines. According to the WSJ, as early as Wednesday morning allies of the president were calling for Huang's resignation, including Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, and Republican Senator Kevin Cramer, a member of the Banking Committee.
In the House of Representatives, several Republicans demanded that Huang explain his relationship with Alice Huang, a former senior executive at the Singapore-based data center firm Megaspeed International, and did not rule out subpoenaing him. Among them is Brian Mast, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, who reminded the newspaper that concerns about sales of Nvidia to China and other countries go back a long way. "Nvidia is often a huge part of this conversation," he said.
The representative Michael Baumgartner, author of one of the bills to limit exports, was also harsh toward the CEO: "I sincerely hope Congress isn’t going to have to make him switch to prison pinstripes and that we do not find out that his mistress being a Chinese spy led to violation of U.S. espionage or export control law."
All of this comes as the WSJ reports that Nvidia's board was considering removing Huang following two extramarital affairs, one of them with the executive under suspicion. So far, the espionage allegations remain unproven and come from lawmakers and sources cited by the newspaper.
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