Bessent vs. Lutnick: Trump Officials Clash Over Nvidia China Chip Probe

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confronted Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick over the stalled US chip blacklist, which has gone 13 months without adding a single new name, amid scrutiny of Singapore-based AI cloud firm Megaspeed and its ties to Nvidia chips routed to China. The dispute centers on whether Megaspeed—which resells Nvidia-powered compute—should be added to the Entity List, a move that would restrict its access to American semiconductors. The standoff matters because the blacklist is a primary tool for curbing China's access to advanced AI hardware, and its dormancy has raised concerns that enforcement is lagging behind the rapid buildout of offshore compute capacity. Nvidia's China exposure has been a recurring flashpoint for investors, with export controls shaping the company's addressable market and revenue guidance. Watch for a resolution on Megaspeed's listing status and whether the Commerce Department resumes adding names to the Entity List, which would signal a tougher enforcement posture toward chip flows through third countries.