Bessent criticises Commerce Department over Nvidia customer restrictions

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has criticised the Commerce Department over delays in restricting exports to Nvidia customer Megaspeed, exposing a public disagreement within President Donald Trump’s administration over controls on advanced chips.

Speaking to CNBC on Friday, Bessent said the Treasury, State and Defense departments and the US trade representative had supported adding Megaspeed to an export-control list for months. But the Commerce Department, led by Howard Lutnick, was responsible for the process, he said.

“Commerce has the pen, and you will have to ask them about their internal processes,” Bessent said. Megaspeed was not on the Entity List, which places restrictions on exports to named organisations, when the BBC reported his remarks.

The Singapore-based cloud computing company has faced allegations that it diverted Nvidia chips to China. The US has restricted sales of some advanced AI chips to China, seeking to protect its lead in the technology.

Bessent also questioned whether Nvidia knew its customer and had done enough to prevent chips from being diverted. In an earlier statement to Tom’s Guide on 29 October, Nvidia said allegations that the regional cloud customer had diverted chips had been investigated and debunked the previous year.

On 12 November, Megaspeed said it took US export-control obligations seriously and had cooperated with inspections. Its chief executive said it had hired an American law firm to catalogue its graphics processors and independently check its compliance practices.

The Commerce Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment from AP and Axios on Bessent’s CNBC remarks. Earlier, it denied an Axios report that Bessent had confronted Lutnick about Megaspeed at a White House meeting. That denial concerned the reported meeting, not the subsequent television interview.

The issue has drawn attention following Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang’s resignation on Thursday, after reports that he had an affair with a former Megaspeed executive. Lutnick has been called to testify before the Senate Banking Committee in December about his department’s role in allowing Nvidia chip exports.