Nvidia faces a more hostile Washington

CEO Jensen Huang’s close relationship with President Trump is unlikely to inoculate the company from an increasingly hostile Washington, as Democrats prepare to take over regulatory committees and key Republicans look to impose stronger high tech export controls.

Plus, three Republican House members recently requested Huang appear in a private briefing on whether he was the target of a Chinese spy. Nvidia spokesman John Rizzo did not directly answer whether Huang would attend the briefing, telling Semafor in a statement: “We’re confident that if the U.S. government believes that any person is a threat to American industry, it would let us know. We often receive updates from the U.S. government regarding parties and entities of concern and always act accordingly.”

In the lame duck, a must-pass defense bill could include export control measures that would further restrict chip sales to China. (It could pass even more easily next year.) Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., likely the next chair of the Senate Banking Committee, has long wanted Huang to testify before Congress on Nvidia’s tranche of deals with other tech companies, and chip sales to China.

Trump will have to decide if protecting Huang’s interest is more important than working with Congress on this issue as the debate over AI shifts.