Lawmakers from both parties want Nvidia's CEO to answer questions

Three House Republican chairs have asked Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to sit for a closed-door briefing with lawmakers on Nov. 18. It follows reports about his relationship with Alice Huang, an executive at a Singapore firm called Megaspeed. The reports say she was recruited by China's Ministry of State Security.

What lawmakers are saying

The New York Times reported Friday that a memo reached Trump administration policymakers last spring. It said Alice Huang had been recruited by Chinese intelligence and described her relationship with the Nvidia chief. Megaspeed is a company the U.S. has suspected of helping China get around bans on selling advanced AI chips there.

• The House letter went out Wednesday and cites national security concerns about China's access to sensitive U.S. technology.
• Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat, said Congress will investigate. He is in line to chair the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in January.
• Rep. Seth Magaziner, a Democrat, wants Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to testify too.

Nvidia declined to say whether Huang will appear. A spokesman told the Times that Huang's dealings with Alice Huang matched meetings he has with any Nvidia customer.

What is not known yet

No one has shown publicly what the administration did with the memo. Nvidia and the Commerce Department did not immediately answer CNBC's requests for comment. Separately, Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican, called a Times report on a Chinese firm, New Matrix, "outrageous." The Times said the firm was approved to assemble Nvidia chips in Beijing, yet found little sign of real operations at its listed address.

This matters beyond Washington. Nvidia chips power much of today's AI, so rules on who can buy them could affect prices, supply and the tech people use.