Congress steps up scrutiny of US administration and Nvidia after Jensen Huang's resignation

Detailed summary

Republican and Democratic lawmakers are seeking more answers from the White House on whether Alice Huang, the Chinese businesswoman who had an affair with former Nvidia CEO, was spying for Beijing.

Key US lawmakers have called for clarity on what the US administration knew about Nvidia chief Jensen Huang's extramarital affair with a woman suspected of spying for China, after the AI chip giant announced his departure.

Huang, now Nvidia's former CEO, had pushed for looser rules on sales of US chips to China — crucial in the AI race — and the controversy has re-energised advocates of a hard line on Beijing, days before Donald Trump travels to China.

"Despite Jensen Huang's resignation, Congress must demand answers from Mr. Huang and others at Nvidia about how they may have put US national security at risk," Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said on social media on Thursday.

"The Trump administration must also answer for what it did once it learned about Mr. Huang's relationship with a suspected Chinese intelligence asset," he added.

Huang, a co-founder of the AI chip giant, on Sunday acknowledged an affair with Alice Huang, a former executive at Singapore-based data centre company Megaspeed. The two are not related.

US intelligence suspects her of working for Beijing, which has strongly denied the allegations.

US Attorney General Todd Blanche, however, said that the Justice Department has not yet reached a conclusion on whether Huang was a Chinese spy.Blanche told reporters at a press conference that "of course" the FBI was investigating reports that she was working for the Chinese government.

According to The New York Times, President Trump was informed of the suspicions last year, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed them to him in May.

Trump said on Monday he knew "the FBI is looking into" the affair, adding that he expected Huang to be "in good shape." He said Huang had told him he did not know the woman was a spy.

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