Jensen Huang testify Congress: ex-Nvidia CEO agrees to appear behind closed doors by Thanksgiving

Jensen Huang will testify before Congress by Thanksgiving, which falls later this month, after lawmakers threatened to subpoena the former Nvidia chief executive, TechCrunch reported on 12 November. The Jensen Huang testify Congress plan covers a closed-door session.

Jensen Huang testify Congress: what was agreed

Huang stepped down as CEO following reports of an alleged affair with a woman suspected of spying for China, and agreed to testify on Wednesday after several senior lawmakers threatened to subpoena him, TechCrunch said. Engadget said House Foreign Affairs Chairman Brian Mast reported that Huang agreed on Wednesday, hours before Nvidia announced his resignation with immediate effect. It added that Nvidia had been investigating Huang over an affair to which he admitted, allegedly with a woman suspected of being a Chinese spy. The allegations about the woman are unproven, and no charge against Huang is reported in these accounts.

Three House Republicans, Mast, John Moolenaar and Rick Crawford, wrote to Huang on 4 November asking him to appear before their committees, The Standard reported. Moolenaar chairs the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, Mast chairs the Foreign Affairs Committee and Crawford chairs the Intelligence Committee.

Key numbers

• 4 November: the date of the letter from Mast, Moolenaar and Crawford, per The Standard.
• Three committees: Foreign Affairs, the China Select Committee and Intelligence, which Engadget said will join the hearing.
• One interim chief: Colette Kress, Nvidia’s chief financial officer, per Engadget.

Nvidia CEO resignation and the interim chief

Engadget said Colette Kress, Nvidia’s executive vice president and chief financial officer, is stepping in as interim CEO while the company seeks a permanent successor. Nvidia’s filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission says the board accepted Huang’s resignation on 11 November, effective immediately, and appointed Kress, 59, as interim chief executive while it searches for a permanent one. Our earlier report covered the resignation and the share price fall, and an earlier piece on the board’s plan to remove him.

What Brian Mast said

“Jensen and I have been very at odds as some of you already know on export controls, but Nvidia is a very important company to the United States of America,” Mast told reporters, TechCrunch reported. The testimony will be behind closed doors, though Mast said he expects the briefing to be recorded on video and transcribed.

What happens next

The reports did not give a hearing date beyond the Thanksgiving deadline, or say which committee will lead the questioning. If the Jensen Huang testify Congress session goes ahead as described, a recording and transcript will exist for the three committees to use.