House committee chairs ask Jensen Huang for a closed-door briefing on his contacts with a Megaspeed executive

The chairs’ letter

The Republican chairs of three House committees sent Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang a joint letter dated Nov. 4. It was signed by Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian J. Mast, China Select Committee Chairman John Moolenaar and Intelligence Committee Chairman Eric A. “Rick” Crawford. The chairs ask Jensen Huang for a joint, closed-door briefing for their committees.

According to the letter, the topic is Nvidia’s “security protocols against foreign adversary espionage.” It also covers Jensen Huang’s interactions with “a publicly reported People’s Republic of China (PRC) intelligence asset: Megaspeed executive Alice Huang.” The briefing is set for Nov. 18 in Room 2172 of the Rayburn building. Jensen Huang is asked to accept by Nov. 11 or propose another date on a day the 119th Congress is in session.

“Recent reports raise significant national security concerns regarding the PRC’s access to sensitive U.S. technology and information,” the letter says. It adds that “it is vital that Congress determines the extent to which U.S. national security has been placed at risk.” The letter does not name the intelligence memo or New Matrix; it refers only to recent reports. It is an invitation to a closed-door briefing, not a subpoena. The Foreign Affairs Committee announced the letter at 18:59 UTC on Nov. 5, and the China Select Committee at 21:13 UTC.

Nvidia’s response

Asked by CNBC, Nvidia did not say directly whether Jensen Huang would attend. The company said its regional cloud customers receive “ordinary business information,” not sensitive Nvidia trade secrets. According to Nvidia, they receive “zero information relevant to national security.” It added, “Meetings with customers are part of a CEO’s job; Jensen talks with thousands of customer executives every year.” Nvidia reports third-quarter earnings on Nov. 17, a day before the briefing.

The intelligence memo allegation

The New York Times report from Nov. 6 could not be opened for this piece; details come from The Verge and TechCrunch. According to the Times, a memo that circulated this year was reportedly based on U.S. intelligence. It alleges that China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) recruited Alice Huang to gather information on Jensen Huang. As relayed by The Verge, the alleged aim was to learn about American AI chips. Another alleged aim was to “potentially influence the company to push for its most advanced chips to be made available to China.”

Nvidia told the Times the meetings were “not unusual” and that it does not share confidential information with customers. These are allegations, and no one has been charged. On Oct. 29, the Times had reported that U.S. intelligence had been tracking Alice Huang for about a year. According to that report, President Trump was briefed last year but did not act. Alice Huang and Jensen Huang are not related. The letter calls Alice Huang a “Megaspeed executive,” while Jensen Huang said on Oct. 29 that Alice Huang was no longer with the company.

An approved buyer’s empty office

The Times published a second investigation on Nov. 7, again relayed by The Verge and TechCrunch. The U.S. Commerce Department had cleared New Matrix, a Chinese company, to buy advanced Nvidia chips; The Verge says they were H200s. At the company’s address, Times reporters found “a hollow gray shell with wires dangling from the ceiling where lights should be.” The company was set up 17 months ago and is not on the building’s directory. The industrial park’s management said it had no record of the company.

According to the report, New Matrix’s owners have ties to a Chinese private equity firm that has been on a U.S. blacklist since 2024. The firm’s name could not be verified for this piece. The Times says this is not a one-off gap, and that approvals for firms linked to restricted entities form a pattern. An Nvidia spokesperson said the company sells “the first, best and most of our technology in America.”