Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has declined an invitation from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., to testify at a Senate committee hearing later this week about American AI development, NBC News has learned.
Thursday’s hearing, held by the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, will examine AI’s role in American innovation, affordability and technological dominance. Warren had requested Huang’s attendance to learn more about Nvidia’s business in China and its approach to export controls — rules that regulate sales of American AI technology abroad.
“NVIDIA sits at the center of some of the most important questions facing our country about artificial intelligence, economic competition, and national security,” Warren wrote in a statement about Huang’s decision not to attend. “If Mr. Huang has time to attend a $1 million-a-head dinner at Mar-a-Lago and fly across the world to meet with President Xi Jinping of China, he should be able to find time to answer questions from Congress.”
Nvidia is the world’s most valuable company, with a market capitalization of over $5 trillion. It designs some of the world’s most advanced chips and hardware that power today’s AI systems.
“I am unable to attend, but appreciate the Committee’s focus on these important issues,” Huang wrote to Warren in a letter seen by NBC News. “American leadership in AI technologies cannot be taken for granted, but we are confident in the future and believe in the American system.”
“I would welcome the opportunity to host you, or any member of the Committee, at NVIDIA’s headquarters in Santa Clara to discuss our technology, the American AI ecosystem and how we can support U.S. leadership,” Huang added.
Huang, who sits on President Donald Trump’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, has repeatedly urged American lawmakers and regulators to allow broader sales of Nvidia chips around the world. NBC News could not locate any record of Huang previously testifying before Congress.
“We should ensure that American companies have the best and the most and first,” Huang told reporters in December, though “we should offer the most competitive chips we can to the Chinese market.”
At the time, Warren said that Huang’s lobbying “could turbocharge China’s military and undercut American technological leadership.”
Just last week, the Commerce Department moved to close a glaring export control loophole that may have allowed companies like Nvidia to export powerful AI chips to countries otherwise banned from obtaining advanced American chips.
Export controls for American AI systems have been a perennial issue and challenge for Washington. While some argue that selling American chips abroad is critical for American innovation and competitiveness, many argue that AI chips are so powerful that they require a stringent export approach. They say that AI chips can be used for a wide range of applications, and their potential use by foreign militaries necessitates an extremely vigilant approach.
Congress is currently contemplating several bills that would further restrict the sale of chips and relevant chipmaking equipment to China, along with other U.S. rivals.
Thursday’s hearing will convene a panel of experts from D.C. think tanks and advocacy groups about America’s AI export controls, according to an aide from the Senate Banking Committee.
Scheduled to appear are Mike Flynn, senior vice president of the Information Technology Industry Council; David Feith, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute; Will Rinehart, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute; and Sarah Myers West, co-executive director of the AI Now Institute.
