Nvidia’s Huang Asked to Brief Congress on Reported Chinese Spy Relationship
Congress seeks answers from Huang
The chairs of the House committees on China, foreign affairs and intelligence have asked Jensen Huang to appear at a joint closed-door briefing on November 18. Representatives John Moolenaar, Brian Mast and Rick Crawford sent the request this week.
The lawmakers said they want to understand the security measures Nvidia uses to guard against foreign espionage. They also said Congress needs to assess whether US national security has been put at risk by access to sensitive technology and information.
Reports focus on Megaspeed executive
The New York Times reported last week that US intelligence officials believed Huang had been targeted in a Chinese spying operation. The reported concerns involve Alice Huang, a Chinese woman who is an executive at Megaspeed, a Singapore-based cloud company that has purchased billions of dollars of Nvidia chips.
The Times said Huang had not received a defensive briefing, which intelligence officials usually, but not always, provide to potential espionage targets. Nvidia said it was confident the US government would alert the company if it considered someone a threat to US industry, and said it receives updates from Washington about people of concern.
Nvidia disputes security concerns
Nvidia has rejected the claims and has not said whether Jensen Huang will attend the briefing. The company said that meeting customers is part of a CEO’s role and that Huang speaks with thousands of customer executives each year.
Nvidia said regional cloud customers receive ordinary business information, not sensitive trade secrets or information relevant to national security. It also said Huang travels with an outstanding security team.
Supply chain faces scrutiny
The United States previously scrutinized Megaspeed over potential chip smuggling, but no charges followed. People familiar with the matter said Nvidia conducted unannounced on-site inspections at the company’s Singapore operation after learning of US concerns; its internal investigation found no evidence that chips had been diverted into China.
US export controls have brought increased attention to Nvidia’s supply chain. Earlier this year, Wally Liaw, a co-founder of supply-chain partner Supermicro, was arrested and charged with smuggling Nvidia chips into China. Liaw denies wrongdoing and has pleaded not guilty.
Key points
- House committee chairs asked Jensen Huang to attend a closed-door briefing on November 18.
- The request follows reports that US intelligence officials believed Huang was targeted by a Chinese spying operation.
- Nvidia disputes the claims and says customer discussions do not involve sensitive trade secrets or national-security information.
- An Nvidia inspection of Megaspeed found no evidence of chips diverted into China, according to people familiar with the matter.