Nvidia Plunges as Congressional Subpoena Threat and Spy Allegations Wipe Out 2026 Gains

Nvidia shares suffered a sharp and devastating decline on Tuesday afternoon, tumbling to $166.95 and leaving the dominant AI chipmaker down 18.42% for the month of November. The steep selloff entirely wiped out all the financial gains the company had accumulated over the course of 2026, marking a dramatic

reversal of fortune for a corporate giant that has long anchored the global artificial intelligence boom.

The downward pressure on the stock accelerated rapidly as congressional Republicans escalated political and regulatory scrutiny, explicitly threatening to subpoena CEO Jensen Huang over his reported relationship with a suspected Chinese intelligence operative.

At the Tuesday afternoon price level, Nvidia was trading roughly 10.5% below its $186.50 closing price recorded at the very end of 2025. More alarmingly for long-term investors, the stock was down a staggering 31.4% from its recent peak of $243.37. Market data indicates that November is currently shaping up to be Nvidia’s worst monthly performance since September 2022, when shares shed approximately 19.6% of their value. The company has not seen a shock of this magnitude since it suffered an even deeper 32% market crash in April of that turbulent year.

Tuesday’s trading session saw losses exceed 6% in the afternoon, compounding a 4.3% fall from Monday. The consecutive days of heavy selling were on track to erase more than $470 billion in total market capitalization from the chipmaker. Even in the wake of this historic valuation contraction, some technical analysts and market observers argue that the stock may still be viewed as deeply overbought from a long-term perspective. Prices have historically traded far higher than what traditional safety metrics and technical indicators would suggest is prudent, fueled heavily by speculative appetite rather than strictly foundational metrics.

To put the broader market context into perspective, financial analysts note that even an additional 20% crash—representing a 43% drawdown from the October highs—would technically be considered a healthy correction within a broader historical cycle. Such a move would still leave the share price hovering above the moving average of the past 50 months, a historical baseline where asset prices typically find support or consolidate. When equity prices detach too drastically from this long-term average, it usually signals an unusual appetite for risk driven more by the fear of missing out, or FOMO, than by underlying economic fundamentals.

Congress Threatens to Compel Huang

The immediate catalyst for Tuesday’s acute market panic stems from escalating tensions on Capitol Hill. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast stated in an interview with ABC News that he was fully prepared to issue a formal congressional subpoena compelling CEO Jensen Huang to testify. The threat was tied to a firm deadline: Mast indicated the subpoena would move forward unless Huang responded by Wednesday, November 11, to a prior request for a closed-door briefing. As of Tuesday’s market close, no official subpoena had yet been formally issued.

Chairman Mast, alongside two other Republican committee chairs, initially sent a formal letter to Huang asking him to appear before the committee on November 18. Lawmakers are seeking detailed explanations regarding the executive’s interactions with Alice Huang, a former executive at Singapore-based chip buyer Megaspeed who has no familial relation to the Nvidia chief executive. Beyond the specific relationship, the congressional inquiry aims to extract comprehensive details regarding the internal safeguards Nvidia utilizes to prevent foreign espionage and protect sensitive technology, according to a legislative letter reviewed by Reuters.

U.S. federal authorities have reportedly investigated whether Alice Huang may have funneled sensitive information or intelligence to Beijing. However, public allegations and available reports have not established that Jensen Huang knowingly disclosed any confidential corporate information, nor have they proven any violations of strict U.S. export control regulations.

In response to the mounting crisis, Nvidia’s board of directors announced on Sunday that it had initiated an independent investigation to determine whether its chief executive had been targeted by a foreign intelligence operation. While the board emphasized that it currently has no reason to believe that national security or critical company secrets were compromised, members stressed that a thorough review of all available information is necessary.

Further demonstrating the gravity of the situation, the Financial Times reported that Nvidia has retained Joon H Kim, a former U.S. prosecutor, to lead and conduct the independent internal probe.

The corporate leadership is also facing immediate legal exposure on the domestic front. On Monday, shareholders filed a proposed class-action lawsuit in federal court alleging that Nvidia and Jensen Huang breached their fiduciary duties by failing to adequately disclose the operational and regulatory risks associated with the reported relationship with the suspected intelligence operative.

Nvidia’s Other Problem: Competition from Google

Compounding the regulatory and legal pressure, the unfolding scandal has coincided with a broader industry-wide reassessment of the unprecedented artificial intelligence boom. Institutional investors and market analysts are increasingly questioning how much longer the multi-billion-dollar corporate spending spree on massive data centers can sustainably continue at its current pace. At the same time, Nvidia’s primary technology competitors are aggressively moving to offer enterprise customers viable, cost-effective alternatives to its expensive and highly coveted AI chips.

Adding to the competitive strain, Google introduced a new lineup of advanced AI chip configurations. Industry reports indicated that OpenAI, one of Nvidia’s largest and most crucial customers, was actively considering purchasing Google’s tensor processing units, commonly known as TPUs. These custom processors are purpose-built to accelerate complex artificial intelligence workloads. While neither company has officially confirmed a finalized purchase agreement, Google formally announced a new generation of TPUs available for select enterprise customers, setting the stage for a direct challenge to Nvidia’s market dominance.

The convergence of geopolitical scrutiny, congressional threats, legal challenges, and intensifying market competition comes at a critical juncture for the company. Nvidia is officially scheduled to report its quarterly financial earnings on November 17, just one day prior to the date requested by House Republicans for the congressional briefing. Meanwhile, Chairman Mast’s deadline for Huang to formally respond to the subpoena threat stands firmly on November 11, setting up a high-stakes week for the world’s leading AI hardware provider.