Bessent Says Four Agencies Backed Listing Megaspeed for Months and Puts the Nvidia Chip Leak Delay on Lutnick's Commerce
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent blames Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick over Nvidia chip mess: "Treasury, War, USTR and State were in favor of putting Megaspeed on the entity list for months."
Context
A public split between two cabinet secretaries over chip export enforcement raises pressure on Commerce, and on Nvidia's customer checks, after Jensen Huang's exit.
Megaspeed International is a Singapore based cloud company that US agencies suspect of routing restricted Nvidia chips to China, and CBS News reports it was previously led by Alice Huang, whose relationship with Jensen Huang preceded his resignation as Nvidia CEO. The Commerce Department controls the US Entity List, which restricts access to American technology. Megaspeed was still not on that list as of November 13, according to TokenPost.
Deep dive
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC's Squawk Box on November 13 that the Treasury, War and State departments and the Office of the US Trade Representative "were in favor of putting Megaspeed on the entity list for months." According to CBS News, he added that "Commerce has the pen" and that questions about its internal processes should go to the Commerce Department, which Howard Lutnick leads.
CNBC reported that the remarks followed an Axios report that Bessent had asked Lutnick in the White House Situation Room why he resisted export controls on Megaspeed. A Commerce spokeswoman told CNBC there was "no such conversation," and Bessent said, "We don't repeat conversations in the Situation Room." He said he was frustrated because President Trump had made clear that China should not receive Nvidia chips above H100s, and that any leakage hurts US companies in the AI race.
Bessent also turned to Nvidia itself. "The real story here should be: Did Nvidia know their client," he told CNBC, adding that anyone at the company should be held accountable if it sold to obvious shell companies acting as pass throughs. TokenPost reports that Megaspeed denies illegal transfers.
CBS News reported, citing a US official, that Lutnick agreed to testify before the Senate Banking Committee on December 10. CNBC said Sen. Tim Scott had announced that both Huang and Lutnick were asked to testify.
What to expect next
Watch whether Commerce adds Megaspeed to the Entity List before Lutnick's Senate Banking Committee appearance on December 10, and whether the White House settles the dispute in public. Nvidia is set to report third quarter results on November 17, its first report since Huang left, where customer screening and China exposure could draw questions. The Justice Department's criminal investigation of Megaspeed, reported by TokenPost, is a separate track that could move on its own timeline.