Huang disclosed over the weekend that he had an affair with a woman who U.S. officials concluded was a Chinese intelligence asset, prompting Nvidia's board to launch an investigation.
The explosive revelations are throwing momentum behind a months-long effort to include chips legislation in an annual defense bill.
The timing of Huang's disclosure is ideal for chip export control advocates, who agreed there is new life in the bills at a critical juncture in the legislative calendar.
Lawmakers from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) to Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.) to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) voiced support for passing the bills on Monday.
The bills would crack down on the sales of advanced chips and key chipmaking equipment abroad.
One lobbyist at an AI policy group told us the "percentage of these bills passing now are astronomically high."
"The biggest threat to these bills was always that Jensen Huang used his political capital with the White House and even Congress to block them," they said. "And that obstacle just got blown up."
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