Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick will testify before the Senate Banking Committee after a top tech executive’s scandal raised questions about China’s access to sensitive U.S. technology.
“He proactively agreed to appear voluntarily before Congress,” Commerce spokeswoman Kristen Eichamer told the Daily Signal on Friday.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang stepped down on Thursday after reports that he had an affair with an alleged Chinese spy who is an executive at Megaspeed, a Singapore-based Nvidia customer suspected of diverting advanced AI chips to China.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently confronted Lutnick over Commerce’s resistance to place Megaspeed on a list of companies that pose national security concerns, Axios reported. Lutnick has repeatedly opposed President Donald Trump’s plans to crack down on companies suspected of transferring advanced technology to China, according to Axios.
“They [Nvidia] opposed other export control laws, and now we know that the Department of Commerce Secretary Lutnick, it appears, used loopholes to allow some of these chip sales to occur, even though President Trump has directed his administration and the Department of Commerce not to allow that to happen,” Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., told Fox News.
Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott, R-S.C., sent letters to Huang and Lutnick on Thursday, asking them to appear before his committee Dec. 3 and Dec. 10, respectively.
“Given the Department of Commerce’s central role in issuing and enforcing export control regulations, your testimony before the Committee will be essential to our oversight of these efforts,” Scott wrote. “Recent developments underscore the significant national security and economic interests at stake and the need for timely, substantive engagement with Congress.”
The alleged affair has inspired Congress to rethink export controls on chips. Huang sought to influence President Donald Trump on Nvidia’s access to Chinese markets.
The commerce secretary will face scrutiny about these reports before Congress.
“We’re hearing … Trump has directed three times that [Megaspeed be blacklisted],” Rep. John Moolenaar, the top Republican on the House Select Committee on China, told Semafor. “If that’s true … then clearly, it seems that those questions need to be answered.”
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[ H/T The Daily Signal ]
