House Chair Mast Ready to Subpoena Nvidia's Huang Over Briefing

House Foreign Affairs Chair Brian Mast says he will subpoena Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang if Huang misses a Wednesday, Nov. 11 deadline to respond to a request for a closed-door briefing. Mast, a Florida Republican, told ABC News on Nov. 10 that a subpoena was on the table. Asked directly whether he would consider one, he answered: "absolutely."

Huang had not yet responded to the request, ABC reported. Nvidia has not said publicly whether he will attend. That silence is now the story.

Where does the deadline come from?

A Nov. 4 letter from Mast, House China Committee Chair John Moolenaar and House Intelligence Committee Chair Rick Crawford set the clock. The letter asks Huang to brief the three committees on Nov. 18 and requires him to "accept the invitation or provide alternative availability by November 11." The briefing request itself is voluntary. The subpoena threat is new, and it arrived from a chairman whose gavel expires in two months.

The committees want to question Huang about his interactions with Megaspeed executive Alice Huang and about Nvidia's "security protocols against foreign adversary espionage." Alice Huang and Megaspeed did not respond to ABC's requests for comment. Nvidia has not disputed the letter's existence. It also has not committed to a date.

What does Mast want to ask?

Mast said he has a "lengthy" list of questions, including what correspondence Huang had with the Chinese government. He said he is "100%" worried about the national security implications.

"They're American chips," Mast said. "But that being said, we don't want China to access them, to use them, to produce them like that."

The quote frames the stakes: export-controlled silicon, a foreign adversary, and a CEO whose personal conduct is now under congressional scrutiny. Nvidia's board has said it has "no reason to believe that either national security or Nvidia secrets were compromised," and that Huang supports its review. China's government called the allegations "baseless and purely slanderous smears."

Note what is missing. No committee has released evidence of wrongdoing. The board's statement is a defense, not a finding. The Chinese statement is a denial, not a refutation.

Would a subpoena actually bite?

Probably not, and Mast likely knows it. Republicans lose control of House committees in January, so a subpoena issued now would likely expire before it forces anything, ABC reported. Democrats would need to issue a new one.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told ABC that "we're going to need a full briefing" on the matter. That is a commitment to investigate, not a schedule.

Pressure is bipartisan. Sen. Kevin Cramer, a North Dakota Republican, said Huang should step down. Sen. Chris Coons, in line to chair Senate Foreign Relations, said "Congress will investigate and get answers" once Democrats take control. Axios reported that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick received a classified memo on Huang's ties to Alice Huang. The memo's contents remain classified, so its weight cannot be judged from outside.

What comes next?

The calendar compresses everything. Nvidia reports fiscal third-quarter results on Nov. 17, one day before the requested briefing. Huang will face analysts first and, potentially, Congress second.

The likely sequence: a response or non-response by Nov. 11, a decision on a subpoena with a built-in expiration date, and a Democratic restart in January with the same questions and fresh gavels.