Jensen Huang will testify before Congress, ending a standoff that had lawmakers threatening a subpoena. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast said on Thursday, November 12, that the former Nvidia CEO agreed to appear before Thanksgiving to answer questions about his alleged ties to a woman suspected of spying for China. The news lands on the same day Huang resigned from the chip giant that powers much of the AI boom.
Why Jensen Huang Will Testify Before Congress
The pressure started with a letter. On November 4, three House Republicans asked Huang to appear before their committees after reports of an alleged affair with a woman suspected of working for Chinese intelligence.
Huang agreed only after several senior lawmakers made it clear a subpoena was on the table. Mast shared the news with reporters on Thursday, according to reports from Bloomberg and NBC News.
Three committee leaders signed the original request:
- Brian Mast, chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs
- John Moolenaar, chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party
- Rick Crawford, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee
That lineup matters. These panels cover foreign policy, China strategy and national security, which tells you lawmakers see this as more than a corporate scandal.
When Jensen Huang Will Testify and What It Will Look Like
The session is expected before Thanksgiving, which falls later this month, though an exact date has not been confirmed publicly. It will happen behind closed doors, so the public will not watch it live.
Mast said he expects the briefing to be recorded on video and transcribed. Whether any of that record becomes public later is not yet clear.
Mast also made it clear he is not out to damage Nvidia itself. He told reporters Nvidia is “a very important company to the United States of America,” while adding that Huang has serious questions to answer.
Key facts at a glance
| Detail | What we know |
|---|---|
| Who is testifying | Jensen Huang, former Nvidia CEO and co-founder |
| Who announced it | House Foreign Affairs Chairman Brian Mast |
| What pushed it | Threats of a subpoena from senior lawmakers |
| Expected timing | Before Thanksgiving, later in November |
| Format | Closed-door session, expected to be filmed and transcribed |
| Original request | Letter from three House chairmen on November 4 |
A Fast-Moving Week at Nvidia
The testimony news comes hours after the Nvidia board said Huang had resigned as president, CEO and board member, effective immediately. We covered the details in our story on Huang’s resignation, which followed reports that he had affairs with both the alleged spy and one of his direct reports.
Chief financial officer Colette Kress has stepped in as interim CEO while the board searches for a permanent replacement. Kress has been at Nvidia since 2013 and is a familiar face on earnings calls.
The story has moved quickly since the board first opened an investigation earlier this month. Days later, reports said the board was preparing to oust its longtime leader.
The White House weighs in again
President Trump has also kept talking about the situation. After earlier press briefing comments about Huang, he posted on Truth Social that “only one man” could replace him: Tim Cook.
Cook stepped down as Apple’s CEO on September 1, 2026, and now serves as Apple’s executive chairman. There is no sign Nvidia’s board is considering him, so treat this as a suggestion, not a plan.
What This Means for You
Most people will never buy an Nvidia chip directly, but nearly every popular AI tool runs on them. That is why a leadership crisis at Nvidia, plus a congressional inquiry tied to China, is worth watching even if you only use chatbots.
Here is what to keep an eye on in the coming weeks:
- Nvidia’s quarterly earnings on Tuesday, which will be the first big public test for Kress as interim CEO.
- Any details that leak or get released from the closed-door session with lawmakers.
- Whether the inquiry feeds into tougher rules on AI chip exports to China, a topic Mast and Huang have clashed on before.
- Who the board picks as a permanent CEO, and how fast it moves.
If you run a business that depends on cloud AI services, none of this changes your tools today. Still, chip supply and export policy shape AI prices and availability, so it is smart to follow the story through our AI news coverage.
Our take: Congress is treating the Huang affair as a national security question, not just a boardroom drama, and that could ripple into how US AI chips are sold abroad.
Sources
Primary source: none, as the agreement was disclosed in Chairman Mast’s remarks to reporters and no committee release was available. Reporting from TechCrunch on the testimony agreement, with background from TechCrunch on Colette Kress and TechCrunch on Trump’s Tim Cook suggestion.
Conclusion
Jensen Huang’s agreement to testify adds a political chapter to an already stunning week for Nvidia. The closed-door session before Thanksgiving will put his alleged China ties in front of three powerful House committees. Meanwhile, Colette Kress faces her first earnings call as interim CEO on Tuesday. How both events go could shape Nvidia’s leadership search and the wider debate over AI chips and China. Expect more updates as the session date firms up.
