Jensen Huang is out at Nvidia. Washington is just getting started with him and the company he co-founded.
Huang, the leather-jacket-clad CEO of the world's most important chipmaker, resigned from Nvidia on Thursday after revelations that he had an affair with a suspected Chinese spy. But the spy saga is gripping Washington, and lawmakers are preparing for investigations into how the now-ex-CEO's affair may have damaged U.S. artificial intelligence dominance, the national security implications and the executive's close relationship with President Donald Trump and his Cabinet.
Republicans will have their chance first during their last six weeks controlling both chambers of Congress. GOP leaders immediately summoned Huang to Capitol Hill and said they would subpoena him if he doesn't agree to show up. In January, Democrats, who are already eager to make their mark with oversight when they take over the U.S. House and Senate, will be in the driver's seat.
"In this environment where there's some really high stakes when it comes to our national security, I would expect there would be some follow-up, yeah," Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters at the Capitol on Thursday.
Huang and the woman with whom he reportedly had a relationship, Alice Huang, an executive at the Singaporean technology company Megaspeed and an alleged Chinese spy have drawn congressional attention. And Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has drawn fire after reports this week that he stalled President Donald Trump's crackdowns on firms routing Nvidia chips to China.