Senate Banking chair asks Jensen Huang and Howard Lutnick to testify over Nvidia and national security

On the day Nvidia told the world that Jensen Huang had stepped down as its chief executive, the questions moved from the boardroom to Capitol Hill. On 12 November, Senator Tim Scott, the Republican who chairs the US Senate Banking Committee, said he was asking Huang and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to testify before his committee.

“The American people deserve answers,” Scott wrote on his official X account. Recent reports, he said, “raise serious concerns about our national security and the protection of sensitive US technology”. If it goes ahead, an Nvidia Senate hearing would put the best-known AI chipmaker and the department that polices its exports under the same light.

That matters well beyond Washington. Nvidia’s chips run much of the world’s AI. Which countries and companies may buy them is decided through US export controls, and the Commerce Department writes and enforces those rules. A public inquiry into both sides could shape how the next wave of chips is sold.

Behind the Nvidia Senate hearing: two letters and a subpoena warning

Scott sent the requests as letters on Thursday, 12 November, asking for separate hearings, Politico and The New York Times reported. According to the letters, as reported by Politico and NBC News, Huang is asked to appear on 3 December and Lutnick at a public hearing on 10 December. The committee’s hearings page listed nothing for December on 13 November, so treat both dates as requested, not fixed.

The letter to Huang warns that the committee could subpoena him if he does not come voluntarily, Reuters, The New York Times and Politico reported.

The letter to Lutnick links the hearing to recent public reports about Nvidia and the Commerce Department’s role, which it says raise national security concerns, Politico and NBC News reported. Because Commerce issues and enforces export control rules, the letter says, his testimony is essential to the committee’s oversight. A Commerce Department spokesperson said Lutnick “has proactively agreed to appear voluntarily”.

Separately, three House committee chairs have asked Huang and Nvidia’s general counsel for closed-door interviews on 1 and 2 December, Politico and DW reported.

Will Jensen Huang testify? No answer yet

As of 13 November, neither Huang nor Nvidia had responded publicly to the Senate request, and Nvidia’s newsroom carried no statement about Congress.

Huang also now speaks from a different seat. Nvidia said on 12 November that he had resigned as president, CEO and board member, with finance chief Colette Kress as interim CEO while the board searches. That change followed reports that the board was preparing a leadership change. In practice, a former chief executive answering lawmakers can explain past decisions, but can no longer commit the company to new ones.

The Commerce side has been under pressure for months. In December 2025, Senator Elizabeth Warren pressed the administration not to approve sales of Nvidia’s H200 chips to China. In March, she and Senator Jim Banks urged Lutnick to suspend or reconsider Nvidia’s export licences.

Lawmakers have also criticised Commerce for not adding certain Chinese firms to the Entity List, a US trade blacklist, Reuters and the BBC reported. Our earlier story on how some Chinese buyers cleared for H200 chips came under scrutiny shows why licences are in question.

If your work depends on Nvidia chips, what to watch

Nothing changes for buyers today. But if your company rents AI computing power in the cloud, builds products on Nvidia hardware or invests in chip stocks, the coming weeks are worth following.

The first signal comes on 17 November, when Nvidia reports third-quarter results. It will be the first results call since Kress became interim CEO. Listen for anything on China or export licences. After that, the questions asked at the Nvidia Senate hearing may hint at whether export rules will tighten.

Why open questions in public beat quiet fixes

There is real good here. Export decisions about key chips are usually made out of view. A public hearing lets lawmakers test how licences are granted and checked, on the record. Lutnick agreeing to appear voluntarily, as his department says, is a constructive sign.

The risks are real too. Hearings can drift into political theatre. Nvidia faces them in the middle of a leadership change, with an interim chief and results due, and uncertainty has a cost for staff, customers and shareholders.

On balance, the most useful outcome would be clearer, steadier rules on who checks chip buyers and how. That would matter more to the wider industry than any single exchange in the hearing room.

The calendar is now the story: results on 17 November, House interviews in early December, then the two Senate dates, if they hold. We will update this report as the committee confirms them.