Fox Business reported on Nov. 8 that House Republicans want Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang to brief them on reported contacts with Alice Huang, a Chinese citizen and Megaspeed executive. The letter itself was dated Wednesday and released Thursday, Nov. 5. The request does not change which chips Nvidia may sell, and no chip or device price was announced.
Reps. Brian Mast, John Moolenaar, and Rick Crawford signed the letter and invited Huang to appear on Nov. 18, the day after Nvidia’s scheduled earnings. Nvidia had not immediately responded, and it was unclear whether he would attend. The lawmakers cited New York Times reporting that Alice Huang had been gathering information for Beijing. The Times also reported that officials at first did not believe Jensen Huang knew, that he had not received a defensive briefing, and that President Trump was briefed about a year ago but did not act. Officials suspect some chips acquired by Megaspeed may have been smuggled into China.
Huang has lobbied to ease restrictions on sales to China. Sunday’s article does not say those rules changed.
Does the briefing request change what a buyer pays for an Nvidia chip? No price or sales restriction was announced. The new step is an invitation, reported Nov. 8, to explain contacts at a Nov. 18 briefing.