House Republicans Give Nvidia's Jensen Huang a Deadline: Testify or Face a Subpoena

Three senior House Republicans gave Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang until 5pm ET on Wednesday, November 11, to agree to a closed-door briefing about his alleged relationship with a Chinese businesswoman accused of passing information to Beijing, or to propose another date. If he does not, lawmakers say subpoenas are likely to follow.

Nahid Joy

Nov 12, 2026 - 09:06

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The United States Capitol building in Washington, DC, with its white dome under a clear blue sky and a green lawn in the foreground.

House Republicans Give Nvidia's Jensen Huang a Deadline: Testify or Face a Subpoena

Three senior House Republicans have given Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang a deadline: agree to a closed-door briefing about his alleged relationship with a Chinese businesswoman accused of spying for Beijing, or face a congressional subpoena.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast and two other top Republican lawmakers asked Huang on November 4 to provide a closed-door briefing about a New York Times report alleging he had a close relationship with a Chinese businesswoman who passed information to Beijing. The other two are House China Committee Chairman John Moolenaar and Intelligence Committee Chairman Rick Crawford.

Moolenaar said on Fox Business that Huang had until 5pm ET (2200 GMT) on Wednesday, November 11, to decide whether he would agree to meet lawmakers behind closed doors. "If he doesn't agree to that or submit an additional date, I believe there will likely be subpoenas for him to appear," he said. Mast is open to issuing a congressional subpoena if Huang does not respond to the request, his spokesperson said.

No stand-in, lawmakers say

The trio are unlikely to allow Huang to send Nvidia's general counsel to answer questions on his behalf about his alleged relationship with a Chinese spy, according to a person familiar with the discussions. They want Huang himself in the room.

A subpoena is not automatic. Lawmakers need support from colleagues to issue one, and the rules for doing so vary by committee. But the warning from Moolenaar, delivered publicly on television hours before the deadline, was unambiguous: silence or refusal would push the matter toward compulsory testimony.

As of publication, no public response from Huang or Nvidia to the deadline had been reported. A spokesperson for Nvidia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Three investigations at once

The House pressure is one of three parallel tracks now running into the scandal. Nvidia's board has opened an independent investigation into whether Huang was targeted by a foreign intelligence operation, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation is conducting its own counterintelligence inquiry. The Justice Department's National Security Division is investigating whether Megaspeed, the Singapore cloud company at the centre of the affair, violated export control laws.

The House request grew out of the New York Times report that first revealed Huang's relationship with Alice Huang, a former executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed whom US intelligence officials believe passed information to the Chinese government. Huang acknowledged on Sunday, November 8, that he had been unfaithful to his wife, but has not addressed the allegation that Alice Huang was a suspected spy. The two are not related.

Senator Kevin Cramer, a Republican, has already called on Huang to resign, and the board met on Wednesday to discuss the chief executive's future. The House deadline adds a political clock to a corporate crisis: if Huang does not engage, Congress can compel him to.

What happens next

If Huang agrees to a briefing, the meeting would take place behind closed doors, with lawmakers able to question him directly about what he knew, when he knew it, and whether any sensitive information was exposed. If he refuses or misses the deadline without proposing another date, Mast and his colleagues would begin the process of issuing a subpoena, a step that would turn a voluntary request into a legal obligation to appear.

Nvidia reports quarterly earnings on Tuesday, November 17, and investors are expected to press the company for details about the board's investigation and its leadership. For now, the immediate question is simpler: whether the chief executive of the world's most valuable chipmaker will answer Congress, or force it to compel him.

Read our earlier coverage: a US senator called on Huang to resign over the spy affair, and how a blacklisted Chinese university obtained Nvidia's H200 AI chips.