NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang Faces Resignation Call From Sen. Kevin Cramer

Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer of the Senate Banking Committee called on NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang on Nov. 10 to step down, citing an extortion risk, Reuters reported.

Cramer told Politico late on Tuesday that "the potential for extortion is so tremendous that something as sensitive as Nvidia chips, I just think he's got to go." He said an affair with a woman who "may or may not be a Chinese spy" was enough on its own, "because whatever else there is, we don't know." Politico described him as a senior Republican member of the committee and said NVIDIA did not immediately respond to its request for comment.

The call follows the board inquiry that NVIDIA opened on Nov. 8, as Voltgrid reported. Cramer called that probe "fine, but not nearly enough," according to Politico. The board has said it has no reason to believe US national security or company secrets were compromised, and Huang has said he supports the investigation and will cooperate fully, according to CBC and Reuters. Huang has told employees he was unfaithful to his wife but has given no details about the relationship, Reuters said.

Why a Banking Committee seat matters for chips

Politico noted that the Senate Banking Committee has jurisdiction over legislation that could curb sales of NVIDIA chips to China. It named three bills introduced there, the AI OVERWATCH Act, the Chip Security Act and the MATCH Act, that are under consideration for the National Defense Authorization Act, the must-pass defense spending bill. Politico said the odds of that inclusion have seemingly risen since the scandal.

For NVIDIA's data-center customers the practical question is export policy rather than the CEO's tenure: provisions that reach the final defense bill could shape which accelerators ship to Chinese buyers. None has passed, and we have not seen their text.

Cramer is not the only critic. Politico reported that Larry Kudlow, a former director of the National Economic Council, urged Huang on Fox Business Network hours earlier to step down "right now." On Nov. 9, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries asked for a full briefing and backed tighter China chip rules, as we reported. NVIDIA shares fell 4.27 percent on Nov. 9 to close at $178.67, Al Jazeera reported.

What the allegations rest on

All of it remains allegation. The New York Times reported in October that US officials suspect Alice Huang, a businesswoman linked to the Singapore data-center company Megaspeed, of being a Chinese intelligence asset; Voltgrid covered NVIDIA's response on Oct. 29. Alice Huang, who is not related to Jensen Huang, has not commented publicly, Al Jazeera said. China's foreign ministry called the claims "groundless" and "a smear." Separately, the Times reported on Nov. 9 that a Commerce Department chip-diversion inquiry into Megaspeed moved to the Justice Department after NVIDIA's general counsel emailed investigators.

Trump said on Nov. 9 that "I know the FBI is looking into it in terms of something else," according to CBC and Al Jazeera, adding that he believes Huang and that "he'll be in good shape." Reuters summarized the remark as the FBI looking into the affair. Trump did not say what the FBI is examining, and we saw no FBI statement.

What is not confirmed yet

Nobody has shown that Alice Huang worked for Chinese intelligence, that chips were diverted with Huang's knowledge, or that company secrets were lost. The board's outside-counsel inquiry has no stated end date, none of the reports we read says Huang has stepped aside, and we found no NVIDIA reply to Cramer's call.