Ousted Nvidia boss Jensen Huang is summoned to testify before Senate committee over affair with 'Chinese spy' as firm's value drops $550billion

US lawmakers have summoned Jensen Huang to face their questions in December after the former Nvidia CEO quit over extramarital affairs, including one with a suspected Chinese spy.The scandal has wiped $550bn off Nvidia's market valuation, as it raises national security fears and leaves the AI industry in uncharted waters.Republican Senator Tim Scott said he was requesting Huang and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to testify on December 3 before the Senate Banking Committee, which he chairs.'Recent reports raise serious concerns about our national security and the protection of sensitive US technology,' Scott wrote Thursday on X, adding, 'The American people deserve answers.'It joins a call for a closed-door interview with 63-year-old Huang on December 1 by three House of Representatives committees, on threat of subpoena.Huang, who has been married to his wife Lori for over 40 years, admitted Sunday to an affair, reportedly with Alice Huang, a former senior executive at Singapore-based data center company Megaspeed. The two are not related.US intelligence circulated a memo this spring alleging she was an asset of China's Ministry of State Security. Beijing has rejected the allegations.On Wednesday, The New York Times reported a second affair, citing video of Huang being affectionate with Nvidia's vice president of health care, Kimberly Powell.Huang has admitted to having an affair with Chinese businesswoman Alice Huang, and the two were photographed together on multiple occasions beginning in 2024 The New York Times reported a second affair, citing video of Huang being affectionate with Nvidia's vice president of health care, Kimberly Powell (pictured) Key US lawmakers, including Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, called Thursday for answers on what the Trump administration knew about Huang's ties to the suspected Chinese spy, days before Trump travels to China for a summit.Reports allege the Commerce Department under Secretary Howard Lutnick may have failed to act on suspicions that Megaspeed was helping reroute restricted Nvidia technology to China.Meanwhile, US Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Thursday the Department of Justice had not yet drawn any conclusions about whether Alice Huang was engaged in espionage for China.While Nvidia's board searches for a permanent successor to Huang, who spent 33 years at the helm of the firm he co-founded, chief Financial Officer Colette Kress will serve as interim CEO.Nvidia hit gold when the launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT in 2022 sparked a global rush to develop AI, with its processors - once designed for video game graphics - becoming a crucial ingredient to train and run the technology.Nvidia did not give a reason for the departure of Huang, who also gave up his board seat.Huang is Nvidia's largest individual shareholder, with a stake of about 3.6 percent, according to the company.The Taiwanese-born businessman was a close informal adviser to President Donald Trump on AI, and had spent years lobbying against curbs on sales of advanced AI chips to China for national security reasons.Interim CEO Kress joined Nvidia in 2013 after nearly 25 years at companies including Cisco and Microsoft.Trump, who had stood by Huang throughout the scandal, said former Apple boss Tim Cook should take over.'A Legend replaces a Legend!' Trump said on his Truth Social network, adding that Cook had made Apple 'one of the great companies of the world at a fairly short range'.Singapore said Thursday it had barred Alice Huang, a Chinese national, from re-entering the country in February for giving investigators inaccurate information about her role at Megaspeed, though she was not investigated for espionage.Nvidia's board opened a probe on Sunday into reporting that Huang had been the target of a 'foreign intelligence effort,' while saying it retained confidence in him.Huang has been married to his wife Lori for over 40 years US Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Thursday the Department of Justice had not yet drawn any conclusions about whether Alice Huang was engaged in espionage for ChinaThe chipmaker said it has 'no reason to believe that either national security or Nvidia secrets were compromised', but promised that its independent inquiry would look at all available information. When asked Thursday if Jensen should have stepped down, Trump said it would depend.'If the woman was a spy, yes. If the woman was not a spy, perhaps it would be different,' Trump said in an interview.But Trump said he was confident that Huang will 'end up on his feet,' adding: 'I spoke to him yesterday. He's going through hell. What he feels most badly about is his wife and family.'At the heart of the spy allegations is the race between the United States and China for supremacy in an industry widely seen as the next industrial revolution.Singapore's home ministry said it had repeatedly sought information from the US Justice Department and FBI on a US server supplier during its Megaspeed probe, but 'received limited information or assistance.'On Thursday, Malaysia also said Friday it was investigating a subsidiary of Megaspeed International over the possible diversion of advanced AI chips to other countries.