Two Democratic senators asked the Trump administration on Thursday to preserve all records regarding the export of Nvidia Corp.’s advanced semiconductors to China or to “entities that may divert such chips.”
The letter from Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Chris Coons of Delaware was sent as the scandal swirling around Nvidia’s chief executive officer, Jensen Huang, intensified and the company’s board was about to decide his fate.
The senators told Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Stephen Miller, the new White House chief of staff, that they were making their request after news reports that administration officials had been aware that Huang “was a target of a suspected Chinese intelligence operation.”
“This incident raises significant concerns about the federal government’s ability to effectively enforce our export controls and protect our national security,” the senators added in the letter. “Questions also remain regarding whether or not prudent defensive counter-intelligence action was taken or national security recommendations were overruled.”
Huang’s affair with a woman suspected of being a spy for China and Donald Trump’s ties to him have raised questions about how much the president knew about the matter, when he knew it, and whether any sensitive intelligence related to Washington’s artificial intelligence race with Beijing was exposed.
On Tuesday, the New York Times reported that Rubio reminded Trump of Huang’s relationship with the alleged spy when the president brought the Nvidia chief to China on Air Force One for a state visit in May. The newspaper said it was at least the second time in seven months that Trump had been told of the matter.
Among the records the senators asked to be preserved were “all documents and communications about the suspected Chinese intelligence operation, including the memorandum reportedly circulated to senior administration officials ahead of President Trump’s visit to China in May 2026.”
After last week’s sweeping Democratic victories that gave the party control of both houses of Congress, Warren will likely become the chair of the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, and Coons is poised to lead the Foreign Relations Committee.
Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Bloomberg news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.