Megaspeed said in December there was “no evidence” of illicit chip exports
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Friday that his department, the departments of State and Defense and the U.S. Trade Representative had been in favor of adding Megaspeed to an export control list for months, while the Commerce Department was in charge of the matter. Bessent, speaking on CNBC, said he was frustrated with the Commerce Department’s delay in implementing controls over the export of certain Nvidia chips to China.
“I am frustrated when President Trump made it very clear China should not receive any Nvidia chips above H100s,” Bessent said. Commerce “has the pen, and you will have to ask them about their internal processes.”
Megaspeed, a Singapore-based company that prominently touts its partnership with Nvidia on its website, was accused last year of illicitly shipping advanced Nvidia computer chips into China. In December, Megaspeed said there was “no evidence” of such exports. On Thursday, Megaspeed maintained it takes its obligation to comply with American export control laws “extremely seriously” — and that it was committed to working “constructively and transparently” with the U.S. government.
Nvidia’s ties to Megaspeed play a prominent role in the resignation of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Huang resigned Thursday after news that he had an affair with former Megaspeed executive Alice Huang, who U.S. intelligence suspects to be a Chinese spy, according to The New York Times.
The comments place a senior Trump administration official on record criticizing the pace of the Commerce Department’s work on export controls for advanced chips. The Commerce Department is led by Secretary Howard Lutnick. Messages seeking comment were sent to the Commerce Department.