Congressman Jim Himes has called for a wider investigation into Nvidia executives, US officials and financial institutions over suspected efforts to get advanced computer chips to China, saying lawmakers still do not have the information needed to understand the case.
Mr Himes, the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said the inquiry should examine whether Singapore-based Megaspeed helped transfer Nvidia chips to China or allowed Chinese companies to use its data centres to train artificial intelligence models.
He also questioned whether Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang was targeted by Chinese intelligence and whether information passed through Alice Huang, Megaspeed’s former chief executive, reached Chinese authorities. US intelligence agencies reportedly believe Alice Huang was an asset of China’s Ministry of State Security, although Mr Himes said the evidence remained unclear.
“I don’t think that we know,” he said when asked how certain US intelligence was. He added that it was possible she had been monitored without knowing she was assisting China, but also that she could have been a paid intelligence asset.
The congressman said the uncertainty was itself alarming given the importance of semiconductor technology. He said the issue involved technology capable of affecting millions of jobs, helping to cure cancer and providing a potential tool for terrorists.
Questions over the Nvidia China chip investigation
Mr Himes said a memo prepared by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, based on CIA intelligence and intercepted communications, had not been shared with the so-called Gang of Eight, the group of senior congressional leaders briefed on intelligence matters.
He said lawmakers had received only a brief, off-agenda discussion at a meeting the previous week. Mr Himes added that he did not know whether the FBI had opened a counter-intelligence investigation into Alice Huang or the information allegedly sent to China.
Two law enforcement sources were cited as saying the Justice Department’s National Security Division was investigating Megaspeed. Mr Himes said investigators needed to establish whether the company had been used to route chips to China or to provide access to computing facilities for Chinese AI development.
He also questioned the role of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, whose department is responsible for restricting the export of chips that could support Chinese artificial intelligence. Mr Himes said reports suggested Mr Lutnick had acted as a barrier to efforts to stop Nvidia chips reaching China, and asked why Megaspeed had not been placed on the government’s entity list.
Mr Himes said a request for Mr Lutnick to appear before the Intelligence Committee had been sent the previous Friday. A separate bipartisan request had also been made for him to testify before the Senate Banking Committee.
The Treasury Secretary has suggested that more Nvidia executives could face removal, citing what was described as a culture of non-compliance and questioning whether illicit chip sales had been facilitated. The Treasury Secretary also pointed to figures showing that only 1% of computer chips imported into Singapore remained there, despite Nvidia identifying the country as accounting for 20% of its sales.
Mr Himes said responsibility should not rest solely with Jensen Huang. He said Nvidia had a commercial incentive to sell chips to China, but that enforcement was the responsibility of the US government, particularly the Commerce Secretary and the president.
He added that executives involved in any alleged sales, officials who failed to prevent them and banks that may have facilitated a smuggling operation should all be held to account. Mr Himes said Republicans in Congress were also interested in pursuing the matter.
