Senate Banking chair Tim Scott calls Jensen Huang (Dec 3) and Howard Lutnick (Dec 10) to testify on Nvidia and China; Democrats open their own probe

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Key facts

• Tim Scott (X, Nov 12, 169k views): ‘Recent reports raise serious concerns about our national security and the protection of sensitive U.S. technology… The American people deserve answers.’ Banking GOP: Huang on Dec 3, Lutnick on Dec 10; the committee oversees semiconductor export controls
• Politico (headline): Lutnick agreed to appear; reporter Darren Botelho (X) says Scott’s letter raises a subpoena on its second page if Huang declines (letter not read by us)
• Sen. Katie Britt: shareholders ‘lost approximately $1.5 trillion in Nvidia value… Who knew what, and when?’ Sen. Jim Banks and Sen. Pete Ricketts backed the hearings
• Separate House track: Huang agreed to a transcribed briefing for House committee chairs ‘by Thanksgiving’ (see Jensen Huang resigns as Nvidia CEO after spy and affair reports)
• Democrats (TechCrunch, Nov 12): launched an Nvidia investigation with a letter on Huang’s ‘scheme’ with Trump; Nov 11 (WSJ): Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Chris Coons asked the administration to preserve all records on Nvidia’s China chip exports and the affair
• NYT (Nov 12): Trump and Lutnick’s closeness to Huang made officials wary of reining in Nvidia’s chip sales; Lutnick ‘took a softer line’ as calls for tougher controls grew. NYT: Trump urged Huang to keep fighting for his job in a Tuesday call
• Reuters (Nov 12): Attorney General Todd Blanche said the DOJ has not concluded whether Alice Huang was a Chinese spy; CNN: US officials disagree on whether she spied on Huang for China; Reuters: Huang had an intimate relationship with a second Nvidia employee
• The Information (Nov 12): Commerce is finalising a long-delayed rule to stop Chinese firms remotely accessing restricted chips in Southeast Asian data centres; Bloomberg (Nov 12): OpenAI told lawmakers it backs bipartisan chip-control bills