Jensen Huang Expected to Testify to Congress Within a Week

By Olivia Hart

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast expects former NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang to testify before Congress within a week, Reuters reported on November 12, 2026. The expectation follows a late-night contact between congressional staff and the chipmaker's team — but no date has been confirmed.

Mast told reporters that staff spoke with NVIDIA's team on the night of November 11, 2026. His comments set an expected window for an appearance. The formal request already sent to Huang concerns a joint, closed-door briefing, not a public hearing — a distinction Mast's timeline does not resolve.

Who requested the briefing, and when?

The Foreign Affairs Committee released its request on November 5, 2026. Mast signed the November 4 letter alongside House Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar and House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Rick Crawford. Three panels would participate in the proposed session.

The letter proposed November 18, 2026, for the briefing. It asked Huang to accept that date or propose an alternative falling on a congressional session day by November 11. Mast's new expectation does not establish that November 18 has been finalized. The committees have the invitation out; the calendar remains open.

What do the committees want to ask Huang?

The requested subjects are specific. They include:

• NVIDIA's security protocols against foreign adversary espionage
• Huang's interactions with Megaspeed executive Alice Huang, whom the chairmen described as a publicly reported People's Republic of China (PRC) intelligence asset
• PRC infiltration and access to cutting-edge U.S. technology

The chairmen framed those subjects inside a broader national-security inquiry. "It is vital that Congress determines the extent to which U.S. national security has been placed at risk," they wrote in the letter. That sentence is broad; the briefings, for now, are not — Huang's interactions form one part of an examination that also covers NVIDIA's safeguards and possible foreign access to sensitive technology and information.

What happened to Huang's role at NVIDIA?

The testimony development arrived alongside a leadership rupture. NVIDIA announced on November 12, 2026 that Huang had resigned as president, CEO and board member, effective immediately. Colette Kress agreed to serve as interim CEO while continuing as executive vice president and CFO.

The board initiated a search for a permanent chief executive. It said it would consider internal and external candidates. What the announcement did not say is why Huang resigned, or whether the resignation and the congressional letter are connected — the company left that gap unaddressed.

How do export controls frame the testimony?

House Speaker Mike Johnson separately told reporters on November 12 that he supports limiting semiconductor exports to China. He said he sees a developing congressional consensus behind that position, and that recent developments could change some lawmakers' minds.

Moolenaar went further in a November 12 statement. He urged Congress to pass bipartisan export-control legislation in the year-end national defense bill. He also called on NVIDIA to change its corporate practices and appoint leadership that prioritizes national security. American AI companies, he said, should not jeopardize national security by giving Chinese companies access to their most advanced chips.

The positions place the expected briefing within two connected congressional tracks: the committees' examination of NVIDIA's security practices and Huang's interactions, and the wider debate over whether advanced AI-chip exports should face additional legislative restrictions.

For the committees, the immediate step is settling the timing and format of Huang's appearance and obtaining his account of the safeguards and interactions described in their letter. The stated window is a week; nothing is locked in until both sides agree on a date.

For Congress more broadly, the larger question is whether the concerns driving the inquiry translate into export-control provisions in the year-end defense bill. Moolenaar wants that outcome. Whether a closed-door briefing, with no transcript and no public testimony, generates the political pressure to deliver it remains untested.