NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang arrives at a Korean barbecue restaurant for a dinner meeting with SK Group Chairman Che Tae-won, LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo and Naver Chairman Lee Hae-jin on June 5, 2026 in Seoul, South Korea.
Chris Jung | Nurfoto | getty images
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang has declined an invitation from Senator Elizabeth Warren to testify before the Senate Banking Committee this Thursday, as lawmakers step up scrutiny of the chip maker’s China business and its role at the center of the global AI boom.
Huang’s decision means one of America’s most powerful AI officials will not appear at the hearing focused on AI development, innovation, affordability and American technological dominance.
Warren, D-Mass., had asked Huang to testify about Nvidia’s business in China and her views on U.S. export controls, which regulate the sale of advanced American technology abroad. Huang said he would be “unable to attend.”
The exchange underscores growing pressure facing Nvidia in Washington as policymakers debate whether advanced AI chips should be sold more widely around the world or more tightly restricted to keep them out of the hands of China and other U.S. rivals. The topic was at the forefront of President Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing in May to meet with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. Huang was one of a group of CEOs who accompanied Trump.
“I appreciate Mr. Huang’s response, but the American people deserve answers in a public forum,” Warren said in a statement. “NVIDIA is at the center of some of the most important questions facing our country about artificial intelligence, economic competitiveness, and national security.”
Warren said, “If Mr. Huang has time to attend a $1 million-a-person dinner at Mar-a-Lago and fly across the world to meet China’s President Xi Jinping, he should make time to answer questions from Congress.”
one in letter to warrenHuang declined an invitation to the hearing titled “AI and the American Dream: Promoting Innovation, Affordability, and American Dominance,” but said Nvidia appreciated the committee’s focus on the issue.
“NVIDIA designed, built, and delivered the first AI supercomputer to American researchers a decade ago,” Huang wrote. “Since that time, we have been dedicated to placing American researchers, academics, startups, and businesses at the forefront of AI-related technologies.”
“The US leadership in AI technologies cannot be taken lightly, but we are confident in the future and believe in the US system,” Huang said.
Huang said he would welcome Warren or any member of the committee to Nvidia’s headquarters in Santa Clara, California, “to discuss our technology, the U.S. AI ecosystem, and how we can support American leadership.”
Huang, who sits on Trump’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, has repeatedly urged US officials to let US companies compete in China and other foreign markets.
“We must ensure that American companies have the best and the first,” Huang told reporters in December. According to the Associated PressAdding that “we must offer the most competitive chips in the Chinese market.”
rabbitry criticized those comments at the time, saying that Huang’s lobbying could “stun China’s military and undermine US technological leadership.”
