U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik attends an announcement by U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House September 28, 2026 in Washington, DC.
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Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has agreed to testify before the Senate Banking Committee, as fallout from ousted Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s affair with an alleged Chinese spy intensifies.
Lutnick was summoned by Senate Banking Chairman Tim Scott as part of a scrutiny of whether Nvidia might have supplied advanced artificial intelligence chips to Chinese companies and thus potentially threatened U.S. national security.
Both Huang and Lutnick received letters Thursday evening asking them to testify at separate hearings on December 3 and December 10, respectively. The letter to Lutnick asked the Commerce Secretary to testify regarding “recent public reports about NVIDIA and the Department of Commerce’s role that raise national security concerns.”
“Secretary Lutnick has proactively agreed to voluntarily appear before the Banking Committee to answer questions,” Kristen Eichamer, Lutnick’s spokeswoman, told NBC News on Thursday. CNBC has contacted the Commerce Department for comment.
The letter to Huang said reports of his relationship with the alleged Chinese spy “raise significant national security concerns.”
Huang admitted to an affair with an executive at Megaspeed, a Singapore-based company that has purchased more than $4.8 billion worth of advanced Nvidia AI chips over the past two years. The scandal, along with reports of a separate affair with a top Nvidia executive, led to his resignation on Thursday.
The Commerce Department secretary’s approach to chip policy is facing growing bipartisan scrutiny over whether his department is doing enough to restrict the supply of AI chips to China. Lawmakers also question whether the ministry was sufficiently overseeing Nvidia’s exports.
Senator Jim Banks was particularly scathing, saying that Lutnick “appears to have used loopholes to allow some of these chip sales to take place” during an appearance on Fox News on Thursday.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who will chair the Senate Banking Committee starting in January, said Thursday: “Secretary Howard Lutnick and Deputy Secretary Jeffrey Kessler must explain why they have failed to close export control loopholes and act today to ensure our cutting-edge technology does not fuel China’s military.”
Nvidia Chairman and CEO Jensen Huang speaks on AI during the return of American manufacturing at the Hill and Valley Forum at the U.S. Capitol on April 30, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images
In a joint letter with new Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Chris Coons released Wednesday, they said all documents relating to the export of Nvidia chips to China must be preserved.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. and Rep. Richard E. Neal, Democrat of Mass., told Lutnick that they were investigating the approval of the sale of Nvidia chips to companies with ties to the Chinese government, military and sanctioned entities.
Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla. said Thursday that Congress should investigate the Commerce Department’s role in approving the export of AI chips to China, but added that he had confidence in Lutnick.
Criticism is mounting against President Donald Trump’s administration for refusing to include more than 100 companies considered national security risks on a trade blacklist, including Chinese AI startup DeepSeek and memory chip maker CXMT, Reuters reported in June.
Lutnick is a longtime friend of Trump, whose relationship spans more than three decades, and is widely considered a close confidant of the president.
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