How Jensen Huang’s Ouster Is Paving The Way For The Policy Outcome He Fiercely Battled

Jensen Huang’s resignation as CEO of Nvidia Thursday left U.S. chipmakers without their leading voice on Capitol Hill — and fewer lawmakers willing to speak up for them in the looming legislative battle over restrictions on chip sales to China.

Top lawmakers said that Huang’s swift fall from grace has dramatically increased the chances that Congress will enact a trio of proposals that would limit the export of chips and related equipment, with the Trump administration now working with members on legislative fixes and the tech giant OpenAI lobbying in support.

“I think there's a developing consensus in Congress that that is an important position to take, especially given in light of recent developments,” Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters Thursday, nodding to Huang’s departure. “I think it might change a few minds.”

Later Thursday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters that passing export control measures for chips was “becoming a high probability.”

Before the scandal surfaced, Huang was one of the most influential tech voices in Washington, cultivating close ties to President Donald Trump and top administration officials, as well as many lawmakers. He successfully convinced the White House to loosen some curbs on sales of Nvidia chips to China last year and to help block restrictive legislation some members of Congress tried to attach to last year’s defense authorization bill.

Huang’s opposition — and the White House’s general alignment — posed a major stumbling block for backers of tighter restrictions this year. That obstacle has now been largely eliminated. One trade lobbyist, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said it would be politically toxic for any lawmaker to openly oppose the measures in the aftermath of the scandal.

The rapid shift in politics on the issue has emboldened national security hawks in Congress who believe the White House has been too lax in protecting sensitive technology from Beijing and other adversaries — leaving the powerful American chipmaking industry scrambling to adjust its lobbying strategy. The nature of the final language in the defense bill, which the two sides are expected to hash out in the coming weeks, could alter the trajectory of the AI race between the U.S. and China, its closest rival.

Supporters of strict new limits on foreign chips sales are now feeling bullish.

“I think you'll see stronger export controls in the [defense bill],” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) told reporters Thursday, adding that he has seen more momentum building among his colleagues in the wake of the Huang scandal.

“I understand people have affairs but for God's sake if you’re going to do it, don’t have an affair with a Chinese spy,” Kennedy added.

House Foreign Affairs Chair Brian Mast (R-Fla.), who is sponsoring one of the measures under consideration for inclusion in the defense package, said the events of the past week have “100%” boosted the chances of all three making the cut.

“A picture is worth a thousand words,” said Mast. “And everybody can see the picture of what is taking place and how sensitive this can be.”

He also indicated that the White House is now proactively engaging on the measures: “Stuff that we’re pushing through, we’re getting direct assistance from the White House,” he told reporters on Capitol Hill Thursday, but added, “I’m not going to elaborate too much on it.”

As Foreign Affairs chair, Mast is one of the top lawmakers negotiating over the export control language that will make it into any final defense authorization bill, along with the panel’s ranking Democrat, Gregory Meeks of New York, and the top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee — Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).

Mast, Warren and Meeks are all in favor of including one or all of the bills, which would require high-end chips to come with tracking technology to prevent smuggling, give Congress a say on export licensing and tighten curbs on chipmaking equipment sales — while pushing allies to do the same. Scott is under increasing pressure from Republicans on his committee to get behind the bills as well.

But while Nvidia’s clout in Washington is severely diminished, the company is not backing off its lobbying push, and is increasingly relying on a network of companies that have financial ties with the chipmaker to canvas the Hill.

A senior leader at a major trade group, who was granted anonymity to discuss plans that are not public, said in an interview that the group has asked its member companies to lobby Congress on export control measures, including one that would give Congress the chance to review sales of high-end chips before the Trump administration approves them.

“There’s a ripple effect for companies when Nvidia’s ability to sell gets choked off,” said the senior leader. “In many ways Nvidia’s goals are not just Nvidia’s.”

Lawmakers have also seen an uptick in outreach from companies other than Nvidia making a similar case in meetings on export controls, according to two staffers involved in export control legislation, who were also granted anonymity to detail private outreach.

But some companies with close financial ties to Nvidia have declined to back its push against the measures up for consideration for inclusion in the defense package, a sign of the chipmaker’s waning influence as the proposals divide the tech industry.

OpenAI, which took a $30 billion equity investment from Nvidia in February and relies on the chipmaker as supplier for a planned Ohio data center, went quiet on China chip curbs this fall, frustrating Hill aides who had counted on its support. Since the scandal, the company has told congressional offices it supports three export control measures that would crack down on the sale of chips to China and the tools used to make them.

But opponents of new chip sale restrictions insist there are still critics on Capitol Hill who are only being more quiet now because it’s not politically popular in the fallout of Huang’s ouster. One person who has been working with lawmaker offices and advocating for the bills, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said those lawmakers might be more empowered to speak up against the provisions later, if the news cycle has moved onto other headlines.

Skeptics of tighter restrictions also remain in senior administration positions. David Sacks, Trump’s chair of the Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, has warned against more export controls, particularly those on countries outside of China, arguing it could hurt the U.S. in the race to develop advanced artificial intelligence technology.

But proponents of tightening export controls are feeling optimistic that the meltdown could serve their cause.

“All of it, everything that's happened, just goes to show why we have to ... protect our high-end chips [from] going to China,” said Republican Sen. Jim Banks of Indiana, who serves on the Banking Committee and has for over a year pushed for tighter controls. “There's more momentum behind our legislation than ever before.”

Mia McCarthy, Gabby Miller and Jasper Goodman contributed to this report.