Nvidia has ended its contract with Jensen Huang. Washington’s collapse has only just begun.

Jensen Huang left Nvidia. Washington is just getting started with the company he and he co-founded.

Huang, the leather-jacketed CEO of the world’s most important chipmaker, resigned from Nvidia on Thursday after his ties to a suspected Chinese spy were revealed. But the espionage scandal continues to haunt Washington, with lawmakers preparing to investigate how the former CEO’s extramarital affair may have damaged America’s artificial intelligence dominance, national security implications and close relationships with President Donald Trump and his Cabinet.

Republicans will have their first chance during the remaining six weeks of control of both chambers. Republican leaders immediately summoned Hwang to the Capitol and said they would subpoena him if he did not agree to appear. In January, Democrats, who already control the U.S. House and Senate and are eager to make a name for themselves on oversight, will be in the driver’s seat.

“In this environment where the stakes are so high regarding the security of our country, I would expect there to be some follow-up,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R.S., told reporters Thursday at the Capitol.

The woman who is said to have had an affair with Mr. Fang, Alice Fang, an executive at Singaporean technology company MegaSpeed ​​and a suspected spy for China, has attracted the attention of Congress. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick also came under fire this week for reportedly delaying President Donald Trump’s crackdown on companies exporting Nvidia chips to China.

Some members of Congress are also calling for an investigation into the role of the Bureau of Industry and Security, the Commerce Department’s agency that administers and enforces export controls, in the Hwang scandal.

The New York Times reported Monday that NVIDIA general counsel Tim Teter claimed in an email to commercial investigators investigating Alice Huang’s company that he had been in contact with Jeffrey Kessler, who heads BIS. The Commerce Department’s investigation into MegaSpeed, which is suspected of smuggling restricted chips into China, has since been transferred to the Department of Justice.

By Thursday night, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott, R.S.C., had subpoenaed both Mr. Huang and Mr. Lutnick to testify before the committee in December. Commerce Department spokeswoman Kristen Eichamer said in a statement late that night that Lutnick “has affirmatively agreed to appear voluntarily to answer questions from the Banking Committee.”

Mr. Scott threatened to subpoena Mr. Huang if he did not turn himself in. A spokesperson for the Banking Commission did not immediately respond to a request Friday morning if it had been contacted by Mr. Hwang.

“Recent reports raise serious concerns about national security and the protection of sensitive U.S. technology,” Scott said in a letter to Hwang. “The American people deserve answers.”

And with Democrats poised to take control of both chambers of Congress in January, the tech titans’ close ties to the White House will add fuel to an already raging fire as the new majority sparks myriad investigations into the Trump administration.

“Congress must demand answers from Mr. Huang and those at Nvidia for how they may have jeopardized the national security of the United States,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D.N.Y.) said in a post on X on Thursday. Schumer is vying for the Senate majority leader position in the next Congress.

The senators who are leading these investigations and will have subpoena power in the new Congress are preparing for Nvidia to take center stage.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), the likely next chair of the Senate Banking Committee, said in a statement Thursday that “Mr. Hwang, NVIDIA executives, and the NVIDIA Board of Directors remain accountable to Congress regarding the company’s compliance with U.S. export regulations.”

Warren and Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee with jurisdiction over East Asia and the Pacific, sent a letter Wednesday to Lutnick, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Chief of Staff Stephen Miller directing them to preserve all documents and communications related to Nvidia’s “exports of advanced AI chips to China or to companies that may divert such chips to China.”

Hwang is expected to appear in Congress even before the Democratic Party takes power in January.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast (R-Fla.) is actively negotiating for Hwang to testify before the House committee, and told reporters Thursday that the Nvidia CEO has agreed to appear in court in the coming weeks.

Mast said the details of that testimony are still being reviewed. This will likely include his committee, as well as the House Intelligence Committee and the House Permanent Select Committee on China, and will be sworn in and transcribed. It is unknown at this time whether it will be released.

“Basically, I would like to meet him within a week…sooner rather than later,” Mast told reporters Thursday, adding that he believes it will happen before Thanksgiving.

If Huang does not appear, Mast said he will issue a subpoena.

Mr. Mast, along with Rep. John Moolener (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Select Committee on China, and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rick Crawford (R-Ark.), sent a second letter of request on Thursday to Mr. Huang and Mr. Teter, asking them to appear in court and giving them a deadline of 8 p.m. ET on Friday to respond. Mast sent Kessler a second request.

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D.N.J.), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, appeared on CNBC’s “The Exchange” on Friday and said he wanted answers from Mr. Huang about the national security and export implications of the incident.

“From an Intelligence Committee perspective, from an AI perspective, you can imagine how important this is for national security and critical infrastructure, and in terms of chip policy, you can understand what exactly affected China and… did Megaspeed repurpose the chips?,” Gottheimer said.

Demands for an immediate investigation into Huang and Nvidia on the day of his resignation represent the former CEO’s stunning fall from power. Mr. Hwang has been one of the most effective spokespeople for the AI ​​industry in Washington, able to switch between leveraging his relationship with Mr. Trump and shielding the industry from concerns about AI risks to lawmakers.

“He’s always been a TED talk guy,” a senior Democratic Party official told CNBC, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss private meetings he attended with Mr. Hwang. “He’s very good, very clear, very good at explaining why AI is important and why it’s so important for the United States to take the lead here.”

Staff said Huang was a “happy warrior” for AI and stayed longer than planned or expected to take questions from lawmakers. But in a meeting with lawmakers attended by aides, Hwang said he was not “deep enough in the weeds” to actively oppose export controls or actually “lobby in any way” with lawmakers.

Mr. Hwang has repeatedly resisted export controls in public, a move that has displeased some lawmakers.

Some lawmakers even lamented Hwang’s death, even though it was inevitable that he would be exposed to the buzzsaw at the Capitol.

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pennsylvania, called Fann’s resignation “just sad.”