Two American senators have asked Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to investigate whether Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s statements may have misled US authorities and influenced their decision to grant the company export licenses for AI chips to China.
The letter sent on Monday by Senators Elizabeth Warren and Jim Banks, both members of the Senate Banking Committee, comes after the Department of Justice indicted three individuals linked to Super Micro Computer, a Nvidia customer, last week. One of them is a co-founder of the company, pictured alongside Jensen Huang at a Nvidia conference last week. They are accused of illicitly shipping AI servers to China worth billions of dollars.
In their letter, Warren and Banks cite two statements made by Huang to journalists in 2025, while Nvidia was seeking export licenses. In one statement, Huang said, “There is no evidence of AI chip diversion. These are massive systems. The Grace Blackwell system weighs almost two tons; you’re not going to slip it into your pocket or backpack.”
In other comments reported by the lawmakers, Huang stated, “The important thing is that the countries and companies we sell to recognize that diversion is prohibited, and everyone wants to continue to acquire Nvidia technology. Therefore, they self-regulate very rigorously.”
The senators highlight that press reports, published before Huang’s statements, already mentioned investigations into potential illegal shipments of AI chips to China.
“These statements were not just hindsight errors,” wrote the lawmakers. “They were contradicted by information available at the time and potentially misled American officials.”
The senators have asked Howard Lutnick to “determine whether assertions, statements, or certifications made by Nvidia management to federal officials and the public regarding the absence of chip diversion were materially false or misleading, and whether they influenced licensing decisions in a way that warrants a thorough investigation or criminal referral.”
In a statement, a Nvidia spokesman said, “Strict compliance is an absolute priority for the company.”
“Detractors of the administration unwittingly favor the interests of foreign competitors on US restriction lists. America should always want its industry to be competitive on verified and approved commercial markets, thus supporting real jobs for Americans.”
