House Foreign Affairs Chair Mast Says He Will Subpoena Nvidia's Huang If He Misses Wednesday Deadline for Briefing on Alleged Spy

Since Nvidia's board announced an independent investigation on Sunday, Nov. 8, into reports that CEO Jensen Huang was the target of a foreign intelligence effort, the fallout has spread well beyond the boardroom.

On Tuesday, Nov. 10, Rep. Brian Mast, the Republican chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told ABC News he is prepared to subpoena Huang if he does not respond by Wednesday to a request from several House Republicans. They want a closed-door briefing on Huang's reported relationship with Alice Huang, an executive linked to the Singapore-based company Megaspeed. The two are not related.

Huang has not publicly said whether he will brief lawmakers. CNBC reports that three House committees have requested closed-door briefings with him about Megaspeed.

Federal investigations

President Trump said at a White House briefing Monday that the FBI is looking into the matter. He said he asked Huang whether he knew the woman was a spy. "He said, 'I had no idea that he was a spy.' And I really believe him," Trump said.

Trump also said Sunday night that Huang should stay on as CEO. "I think so. Oh yeah, sure," he said.

Two law enforcement sources told CBS News on Monday that the Justice Department's National Security Division is investigating Megaspeed over possible violations of U.S. export restrictions on advanced AI chips. No charges have been announced.

Megaspeed has denied diverting Nvidia chips to China and calls itself a compliant, legitimate company. The New York Post reports that site inspections by Nvidia and U.S. officials found no evidence of violations. Nvidia has said its own compliance team checked Megaspeed and found nothing illegal.

The spy allegation itself traces to the New York Times, which reported that U.S. intelligence concluded Alice Huang was recruited by China's Ministry of State Security. The Times cited people briefed on a memo circulated inside the Trump administration in the spring. China has called the claim a smear. Alice Huang has not been charged with anything.

The board's investigation

Nvidia told Newsweek on Tuesday that its independent directors have retained Joon H. Kim, a former acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. They are to conduct a "thorough and independent investigation."

The board said Sunday that it has "no reason to believe that either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised." It added that the company retains confidence in Huang's leadership.

Huang admitted in a message to employees that he was "unfaithful" to his wife. "There is no excuse for what I did. I am deeply sorry," he wrote. He has since withdrawn from scheduled appearances at the ElevenLabs Summit and an Anthropic CEO forum.

Shareholder suit and the stock

A retail investor, Mark Kistenmacher, filed a proposed class action Monday in federal court in California. It accuses Nvidia and Huang of misleading shareholders about the relationship and its national security implications. The Rosen Law Firm announced the filing. The class period runs from Oct. 9, when the Times first reported the pair socializing in Taiwan, to Nov. 8.

The complaint says Nvidia's earlier assurances about Megaspeed were misleading because they came while Huang was involved with Alice Huang, who it says is "suspected of seeking to help smuggle Nvidia products into China." Those are allegations. Nvidia had not responded to requests for comment on the suit as of Tuesday, Nov. 10.

Nvidia shares fell $7.97, or 4.3%, on Monday, erasing about $190 billion in market value. They were indicated lower again before Tuesday's opening bell.

Policy questions behind the affair

The congressional interest goes to Huang's influence over chip policy. In December, Trump said Nvidia could ship H200 chips to China if the U.S. got a 25% cut of sales. CNBC reports, citing the Times, that Huang was a last-minute addition to the executive delegation on Trump's May trip to China, after the president was briefed on intelligence concerns.

"In 35 years, I haven't seen a chip CEO with this much direct influence on export policy," said Patrick Moorhead, CEO of Moor Insights & Strategy.

Bloomberg reported that Nvidia general counsel Tim Teter contacted Commerce Under Secretary Jeffrey Kessler during a 2025 probe of suspected Megaspeed chip smuggling. Teter reportedly asked whether the Trump administration had played a role in detaining Alice Huang. Nvidia's response to that report was not included in the material gathered for this article.

TechCrunch, citing The Information, reports that Alice Huang's family built a network of companies in China and Singapore to buy Nvidia chips. One of them, Shanghai Century Litong, allegedly facilitated $7.5 billion in purchases, including banned chips. Megaspeed itself reportedly bought $4.8 billion in Nvidia chips over two years.

Succession

Nvidia's annual reports make no specific reference to succession planning. Analysts say there is no ready replacement. "Nvidia is not an ordinary company and Jensen is not an ordinary CEO; he IS Nvidia," Bernstein analysts told clients. Dan Ives of Yorkville Ives & Co. said, "There is no succession plan and it would be a stretch to find a candidate internally to replace Jensen."

The next concrete marker is Wednesday, Nov. 11. Mast has said he is prepared to subpoena Huang if he does not respond to the briefing request by then.