Nvidia board continues Huang probe as Congress demands December testimony

Jensen Huang left Nvidia’s top jobs on Nov. 12. The inquiries did not leave with him. NBC News reported on Nov. 13 that Nvidia’s independent directors plan to keep investigating the former chief executive, with a former federal prosecutor assisting the board. The same day, several U.S. congressional committees asked him to appear in December and said they would issue subpoenas if he does not come in on his own.

Huang had run Nvidia for 33 years, through the period when its chips became central to training and running large AI models. On Nov. 12 the board named chief financial officer Colette Kress as interim CEO and said it would consider internal and external candidates. Nvidia’s official announcement did not explain the resignation. Subsequent news reports said it followed Huang’s admission of an extramarital relationship and a national-security debate in the United States.

The most direct change in this round is that the internal review is continuing. People familiar with the matter told NBC the independent directors do not intend to drop the work just because Huang has already left. CNBC reported that Nvidia said on Nov. 10 it had hired the law firm Wachtell Lipton to examine allegations that Huang had been the target of a foreign intelligence effort. Congress, meanwhile, put dates on the calendar. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast, Intelligence Committee Chairman Rick Crawford and Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar asked Huang to sit for a closed-door, transcribed interview on Dec. 1, and to confirm in writing by 8 p.m. Eastern Time on Nov. 13 or face a House Foreign Affairs subpoena. They also asked Nvidia general counsel Tim Teter to appear on Dec. 2. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott asked Huang to testify on Dec. 3 and likewise raised the prospect of a subpoena. Commerce Department spokesperson Kristen Eichamer said Secretary Howard Lutnick had agreed to appear voluntarily before the Banking Committee; ABC News reported that the date had not yet been announced. Mast also told reporters that talks over the details were still underway and that he believed Huang had agreed to appear in the coming weeks.

The search for a permanent successor has not formally begun. The Financial Times reported on Nov. 13, citing people familiar with the matter, that the board had approached Arm chief executive Rene Haas, who spent seven years at Nvidia before leaving in 2013. In a statement to CNBC, Nvidia’s board said it was “in the process of selecting a search firm for the Nvidia CEO role” and that “we have not formally engaged any potential candidates.” It added that speculation about individual candidates was premature. Kress held her first meeting as interim CEO with senior executives at Nvidia’s Santa Clara, California, headquarters on the afternoon of Nov. 12.

The situation is a bit like a team that has already changed coaches while the referees are still reviewing the last play: one person has left the sideline, but the investigation and Congress still want a clearer picture of what happened, and the permanent job has not been posted. NBC News said Nvidia’s stock had lost $585 billion in value this week. CNBC said shares fell more than 2% on Friday, taking the company’s market value back below $4 trillion. In a separate review the same day, Reuters examined more than 150 Chinese procurement notices, investment plans, contracts and disclosures and identified computing projects designed around restricted Nvidia H100, H200 and H800 processors with a combined reported value of more than 23 billion yuan, or about $3.2 billion. That figure includes planned investments and signed contracts as well as completed sites, and it covers buildings, power systems and other infrastructure, not spending on the chips alone. Nvidia has said export controls have effectively shut it out of China’s AI data-center market. Reuters also noted that the projects it identified have not been linked to the allegations involving Huang, and that there has been no public finding that he violated export-control laws. China’s commerce ministry and Nvidia did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.

Everyday software will not change chips overnight. What will stretch out is the handover. Two dates now sit on the calendar: Nvidia’s quarterly results on Nov. 17, Pacific Time, and whether Huang appears before Congress in December.

Original source published: NBC News, Nov 13, 2026, 23:28 Beijing time / 10:28 AM EST; CNBC (CEO search), Nov 14, 2026, 03:18 Beijing time / 2:18 PM EST; CNBC (Congress), Nov 14, 2026, 05:04 Beijing time / 4:04 PM EST; ABC News, Nov 14, 2026, 05:46 Beijing time / 4:46 PM EST; Reuters, Nov 13, 2026