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Bessent Publicly Blames Lutnick’s Commerce Department Over Delayed Blacklisting of Nvidia Partner
By Eleanor Ever Loyal
Photo: Daniel Torok / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent publicly criticized the Commerce Department on Friday over its failure to place Singapore-based Megaspeed International on the U.S. export-control blacklist, escalating an internal dispute over suspected transfers of advanced Nvidia artificial-intelligence chips to China.
Speaking on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Bessent said the Treasury, Defense and State departments, along with the U.S. Trade Representative, had supported adding Megaspeed to the Commerce Department’s Entity List for months. The list restricts companies’ access to U.S. exports.
“Commerce has the pen. You would have to ask them about their internal processes,” Bessent said, according to CNN and other reporting. He said he was frustrated because President Donald Trump “made it very clear that China should not receive any Nvidia chips above” the H100 level.
Megaspeed is a Singapore-based Nvidia customer and cloud partner suspected by U.S. officials of funneling advanced Nvidia chips to China in circumvention of export controls, according to reporting cited by AFP. The investigation has lasted more than a year. AFP-cited reporting puts Megaspeed’s Nvidia chip purchases at more than $4 billion over two years.
The public criticism follows the resignation this week of Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang. Barron’s reported that Huang resigned and acknowledged being unfaithful to his wife after reports of an affair with Alice Huang, a former Megaspeed executive who is not related to him. Alice Huang is under U.S. investigation over alleged ties to Chinese intelligence, according to the reporting. The alleged affair and espionage-related claims have not been established as fact.
CNN reported that some of Trump’s advisers, concerned about the fallout from Huang’s resignation, have begun discussing whether Lutnick should be dismissed. The White House issued a statement Thursday, before Bessent’s public remarks, standing by the Commerce secretary.
Lutnick had not commented on Bessent’s criticism, according to the reporting. CNN said it had contacted the Commerce Department for comment.
The dispute had also surfaced in an earlier reported private meeting. Axios reported that Bessent challenged Lutnick in a Situation Room meeting last week over the reluctance to place Megaspeed on the Entity List. A Commerce Department spokesperson denied that the conversation took place. Asked about the report, Bessent said: “We don’t repeat conversations in the Situation Room.”
The New York Post reported that a former Commerce official said the department came close in July 2025 to publishing a rule requiring export licenses for advanced chip sales to certain Southeast Asian countries. According to the former official’s account, other agencies had approved the rule but Lutnick refused to publish it. The Post also reported that the Megaspeed investigation was transferred from Commerce to the Justice Department late last year.
The controversy comes ahead of congressional scrutiny of the two officials. Sen. Tim Scott, Republican of South Carolina, said Huang and Lutnick have been asked to testify before the Senate Banking Committee in December, as previously reported by The Library Media.
It remains unknown whether Megaspeed will be added to the Entity List, whether Lutnick will remain in his position, or what explanation the Commerce Department will provide for the delay. Beyond its spokesperson’s denial of the reported Situation Room exchange, the department’s account of the matter had not been reported.
Eleanor Ever Loyal
National Desk, The Library Media
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