Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Friday that four government agencies favoured putting the Singapore-based Nvidia customer Megaspeed on a US trade blacklist for months, but the Commerce Department never acted. He made the remarks in an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box”.
“Treasury, War, USTR, and State were in favor of putting Megaspeed on the entity list for months,” Bessent said. “But Commerce has the pen. Commerce BIS has the pen, and you will have to ask them about their internal processes.”
The entity list is the Commerce Department’s blacklist of companies US officials say pose national security risks. Adding a company bars US firms from doing business with it and subjects it to strict export controls. Megaspeed has said it is a compliant and legitimate company.
US officials have raised concerns that Megaspeed diverted advanced Nvidia chips to China. According to reports, the company bought about $4.8 billion in Nvidia-powered equipment since mid-2024. Bessent said the delay ran against President Trump’s instructions that China should not receive Nvidia chips above the A100 level.
The dispute surfaced after Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang stepped down on Thursday after 33 years at the company. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has agreed to testify before the Senate Banking Committee on December 10.
Source: CNN
