The political fallout from the Nvidia scandal is widening in Washington, with the US Treasury and Commerce departments publicly at odds over why a Singapore company suspected of diverting Nvidia chips to China was never blacklisted. Jensen Huang left his post as Nvidia chief executive last Thursday, in an exit described as a resignation in one account and an ouster in others.
Treasury and Commerce
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent blamed the Commerce Department for not getting Megaspeed added to the trade blacklist, saying Commerce has the pen. He said Treasury, Defense, the US Trade Representative and State had backed the listing for months. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has agreed to testify before the Senate, and Senator Jim Banks wants him before the Banking Committee quickly. A separate news report said President Donald Trump approved action against suspected Nvidia chip diversions to China at least three times this year but that Lutnick did not act on the requests; that report has not been confirmed in the account read here.
The Megaspeed allegations
Megaspeed is suspected of buying Nvidia chips for data centres in Southeast Asia and routing them to China, and it reportedly traded more than 4 billion dollars of Nvidia chips over two years. Bessent questioned whether Nvidia sold to pass-through shell companies and said anyone at the company responsible should be held accountable. Megaspeed's former director, Alice Huang, was identified by US media as an alleged Chinese intelligence asset; Beijing denies the allegation.
What comes next
Three congressional committee chairs have asked Jensen Huang to attend a closed-door briefing in Washington on 18 November. Nvidia's board has said it will investigate. In a letter to employees on 8 November Huang acknowledged an extramarital affair without naming the woman. The account read did not report Nvidia's share price. The allegations come from officials' public statements and press reports, and none has been proved.
