Democrats Launch Inquiry Into Trump Administration’s Nvidia…

Congressional Democrats opened a new inquiry Thursday into how the Trump administration handled Nvidia’s chip sales to China. The move came hours after Nvidia announced that CEO Jensen Huang was leaving the company he founded.

Huang stepped down after confessing to an extramarital affair with a woman accused of being a Chinese spy. Reports since then have alleged additional affairs involving Nvidia employees. Later Thursday, he agreed to testify before a separate set of Republican-led congressional committees.

The Democratic inquiry is led by Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee. As members of the minority party, they can ask questions but cannot compel answers.

Nvidia H200 Export Deal: What the Neal-Wyden Letter Alleges

In a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, the lawmakers ask the department to preserve records tied to an arrangement they consider questionable and, they allege, illegal.

“The scheme worked like this,” the letter says. According to its description, President Trump agreed to let Nvidia sell H200 chips to China on one condition: the chips, manufactured in Taiwan, had to ship to the United States first. After they arrived, Trump imposed a tariff “effectively taking a cut of Nvidia’s sales to China through what appears to be an unconstitutional export tax system,” the letter said. The Commerce Department, under Lutnick, then issued an export license.

The revenue-sharing arrangement itself was not secret. In August 2025, Nvidia and AMD agreed to give the U.S. government 15% of their revenue from China chip sales as part of a deal to secure export licenses, the Associated Press reported at the time.

The letter focuses on the administration as well as on Nvidia and Huang. It asks why Lutnick continued to let Megaspeed buy chips after he was reportedly told of U.S. intelligence suspicions about Alice Huang and about Jensen Huang’s relationship with her. It also asks why the department reportedly approved other Asian companies to buy Nvidia chips “with no physical presence at their listed addresses.”

Megaspeed, Alice Huang and the Alleged Chinese Spy Allegations

Alice Huang, the woman accused of being a Chinese spy, was an executive at Megaspeed, an Nvidia customer. The Singapore-based company is suspected by U.S. officials of helping route advanced Nvidia chips into China.

The letter also raises Nvidia’s political giving. It notes that the export deal was approved after Trump learned of “Mr. Huang’s compromised position,” and after Nvidia donated $26 million toward Trump’s projects, including the White House ballroom.

Second Congressional Probe: Huang to Testify Before Republican-Led Committees

The Democratic inquiry is the second congressional investigation into Nvidia’s China sales and its dealings with the president since news of the alleged spy affair broke.

The first is led by Republicans and involves leaders of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and the House Intelligence Committee. The group demanded that Huang appear for a closed-door session and threatened a subpoena if he refused. On Thursday, after his resignation, he agreed to testify.