Lutnick to Testify Before Senate Commerce Committee as Republicans Split Over Nvidia

In an interview with Semafor, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Brian Mast said Jensen Huang, who resigned as Nvidia's chief executive this week, will appear before his panel. Neither hearing has been given a date.

The hearings will be the first public test of how the Commerce Department handled export controls on the most advanced AI chips. That issue sits behind Huang's departure from the world's most valuable chipmaker and the separate inquiries Democrats opened this week. The New York Times reported on Thursday that critics accuse Lutnick and his department of shielding Nvidia even as concerns grew over AI chip sales to companies such as Megaspeed.

Megaspeed is the chip company whose former chief, Alice Huang, has been described as an alleged Chinese spy. Jensen Huang had an affair with her. Rep. John Moolenaar, the top Republican on the House Select Committee on China, told Semafor that he had heard Trump directed three times that Megaspeed be blacklisted. "If that's true … then clearly, it seems that those questions need to be answered," Moolenaar said.

Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina focused on Huang's place on Trump's trip to China earlier this year. Semafor reported that this happened even though a State Department memo described Huang's relationship with the alleged spy. Tillis said allowing that exposure was "a disqualifying moment for Lutnick." Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana said he would call a press conference to explain the Megaspeed sales if he were secretary, describing the matter as "as serious as an aneurysm." Sen. Jim Banks of Indiana told Fox News that Lutnick appeared to have used loopholes to allow some sales despite Trump's instructions, and urged him to testify before the Senate Banking Committee.

Semafor reported that no Republican lawmaker has explicitly called for Lutnick to be fired, and that most Republican officials who have spoken have defended him. "We don't need to shoot Howard today," Sen. Jim Justice of West Virginia told the outlet. Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota said he wanted to know what rules Lutnick was trying to follow before assigning blame, and Sen. Rick Scott of Florida said Lutnick had always answered his questions.

The dispute has also exposed friction inside the administration. Steve Bannon, an ally of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, told Semafor that Bessent had blown up at Lutnick in the Situation Room, and that Treasury staff had pressed Commerce over chip sales for more than a year. A Commerce Department spokesperson said that "Treasury and Commerce have a great working relationship."

The White House has stood by Lutnick in public. "President Trump maintains complete confidence in the secretary," a White House official told Semafor, praising him for securing trade deals and manufacturing investment.

Outside government, the AI industry has shown little concern. Caleb Max, chief executive of the National Artificial Intelligence Association, told Semafor that the Commerce Department's job is to expand the economy and that its handling of the sales looks "natural" rather than nefarious.

Lawmakers have not said when Lutnick and Huang will appear. Earlier this week, Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Chris Coons asked the administration to confirm by November 17 that it is preserving its Nvidia export records.