Lutnick agrees to testify on Nvidia, but China was under 1% of its data center sales

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has agreed to testify before the Senate Banking Committee, CNBC reported, as the fallout from Jensen Huang's exit widens from a boardroom story into a Washington one. This updates our earlier reports on Huang's resignation and the senators' records letter.

What changed

• Committee Chair Tim Scott sent letters on Thursday evening asking Huang and Lutnick to testify in separate hearings, Dec. 3 for Huang and Dec. 10 for Lutnick, according to CNBC.
• A Lutnick spokesperson, Kristen Eichamer, told NBC News the secretary "proactively agreed to appear voluntarily." Whether Huang will appear was not stated in the CNBC report. Politico, Bloomberg Law and the Financial Times also reported the summons.
• Sen. Jim Banks, a Republican, said on Fox News that Lutnick "appears to have used loopholes to allow some of these chip sales to occur." Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who chairs the committee from January, asked why export-control loopholes have not been closed. Rep. Brian Mast said Congress should investigate Commerce's role but that he has confidence in Lutnick. These are the lawmakers' own statements; no wrongdoing has been established.
• Sen. Ron Wyden and Rep. Richard Neal told Lutnick they are investigating approvals of Nvidia chip sales to companies tied to the Chinese government, military and sanctioned entities, per CNBC.

The number behind the number

The coverage centers on Megaspeed, the Singapore company that has reportedly bought more than $4.8 billion of Nvidia chips, and on H200 export licenses. The scale is the part the headlines leave out. In its 10-Q for the quarter ended July 26, Nvidia reports revenue of $96.2 billion and Data Center revenue of $89.0 billion. It also says shipments of Hopper data center products to China were less than 1% of Data Center revenue that quarter.

Less than 1% of $89.0 billion is under $890 million, a ceiling and not a reported figure. The filing adds that the Chinese government restricted sales, that Nvidia has been unable to sell all the products it holds licenses for, and that it took a $0.4 billion charge in the first half of fiscal 2027 for excess H200 inventory and purchase obligations as demand faded. H200s shipped under the new licensing program carry a 25% U.S. tariff on import, which Nvidia says it has been unable to pass on to customers.

So the direct revenue at stake in Washington's China questions is small. The Megaspeed purchases are a different matter: a Singapore buyer is outside the China line in that disclosure, and the open question in the hearings is whether chips bought there ended up somewhere they should not have. Nothing in the 10-Q addresses that, and the allegations about Megaspeed remain allegations.

Who it actually hits

The risk to Nvidia is less about lost China sales than about how its sales through third-party buyers and AI cloud operators are policed. If Commerce tightens license conditions or end-user checks for resellers and intermediaries, the customers who feel it first are the cloud and reseller buyers, not the hyperscalers. The filing says the ACIE segment (AI clouds, industrial and enterprise) grew 138% from a year ago, so that is the channel any tighter checks would touch.

The market and the calendar

Nvidia was quoted at $169.00, up 1.69%, at 8:26 a.m. ET on Nasdaq.com, after closing Thursday at $166.19, 30.5% below its Oct. 6 peak in our chart data. Premarket prices can reverse at the open.

Three dates frame the next month: Nvidia's third-quarter report on Nov. 17, the senators' Nov. 17 deadline for a records-preservation reply, and the Dec. 3 and Dec. 10 hearings. The earnings call will be the first time interim CEO Colette Kress is asked about export-license exposure in public. For anyone holding Nvidia through an index fund, the filing is the baseline to hold the call against: any China figure above that sub-1% level would be new.

Sources: CNBC, NBC News, Financial Times, Politico and Bloomberg Law (headlines), Nvidia Form 10-Q on SEC EDGAR, Nasdaq.com. This is market information, not investment advice.