Former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has been subpoenaed to testify before a U.S. Senate committee next month about his affair with a suspected Chinese spy.
Jen-Hsun Huang resigned from his leadership position at one of the world's most valuable companies last Thursday after admitting to an extramarital affair. This sudden ouster caused an uproar in Silicon Valley.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has also come under scrutiny over whether sensitive Huida artificial intelligence chips (chips) were exported to China, and was also summoned to appear before the Senate Banking Committee in December.
As the scandal dominated the news, $550bn (approximately £415bn) was wiped off the value of Huida's shares in just five days.
In addition, South Carolina Republican Senator Tim Scott sent a letter to Huang and Lutnick last Thursday asking them to testify before the Senate Banking Committee.
"Recent reports raise serious concerns about our national security and the protection of sensitive American technology," the South Carolina Republican posted on X.
He added: "The American people have a right to know the answers." Scott asked Huang to appear in court voluntarily on December 3, but also warned that the committee may issue a subpoena to compel him to testify.
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Three House committees—Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, and the House Special Committee on China—also sent letters to Huang, subpoenaing him for a closed-door interview on December 1.
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Lutnick also came under scrutiny after unnamed officials in the Trump administration told U.S. media that the Commerce Secretary had delayed efforts to tighten export restrictions on advanced artificial intelligence chips from China.
A Commerce Department spokesman told US media that Lutnick had "voluntarily" agreed to appear before the Senate Banking Committee.
Huang, who has been Huida's public face since 1993, admitted on Sunday that he had been "unfaithful" to his wife, following reports that he had an affair with suspected Chinese spy Alice Huang. On Wednesday, rumors emerged that he was in a second relationship, this time with a Huida executive.
Huang Le was a senior executive at Singaporean company Megaspeed. According to the New York Times, she is suspected of having ties to Chinese intelligence agencies. But China has dismissed the accusation as a smear campaign.
U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Thursday that the Justice Department had not reached any conclusion on whether Huang Le was spying for Beijing. Huida officials have also repeatedly declined to comment since last Wednesday.
Huang's personal representative also declined to comment on Thursday. However, according to US media reports, Huang’s alleged second affair was with Kimberly Powell, a long-time Huida executive who reported directly to him within the company.
Sources told the BBC that company employees had noticed the pair were unusually close.
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Huang was widely expected to weather the storm after the first affair became public, even as the company announced it had launched an investigation into whether its CEO "had been the target of foreign intelligence efforts."
A current Huida employee told the BBC that initial reports of his infidelity were largely ignored by junior staff at the company. It wasn't until Jen-Hsun Huang's affair with a Huida executive was exposed that employees began to think "this is crazy."
Another Huida employee said they were asked not to talk to the media or comment publicly on the matter. Many employees have been able to cash in their shares as Huida's stock price soared and have earned millions of dollars in compensation.
Huida said it had "no reason to believe that national security or Huida secrets have been compromised" but promised that its independent investigation would review all available information.
The company's meteoric rise was led by Jen-Hsun Huang, who became a key driver of the artificial intelligence industry, which relies on powerful computer chips made by Huida.
These chips were originally designed for computer games. But as artificial intelligence technology has evolved over the past four years into chatbots and large-scale language models, companies building artificial intelligence tools suddenly need large numbers of Huida computer chips that can process massive amounts of data.
Huida is currently looking for Huang Renxun's successor. Colette Kress, the company's current chief financial officer, was named interim chief executive on Thursday.
The BBC spoke with several people in the technology industry this week and pointed out that Huang Jensen's loss has become a major topic in circles in the San Francisco Bay Area, which is full of technology employees, industry executives and billionaires.
Jen-Hsun Huang has been married to his wife, Lori Huang, for more than 40 years. Their two children are also Huida executives.
Huida's stock price has plummeted this week, the most significant five-day decline since the company went public 27 years ago. Its market value has risen more than 470% in the past five years. It only reached its peak a few weeks ago, but has now fallen 31%. Behind this is broader uncertainty in the high-tech industry.
This article was originally written in English. We used artificial intelligence to assist in translation and was reviewed by BBC journalists before publication. Learn more about how we use artificial intelligence.
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