WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has publicly pointed the finger at Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, faulting the Commerce Department for a protracted delay in blacklisting a Singapore-based firm accused of funneling advanced artificial intelligence chips to China.
Speaking in a recent interview, Bessent stated that the Treasury Department, alongside the State Department, the Pentagon, and the U.S. Trade Representative, had favored placing Megaspeed International on the U.S. government's Entity List for months. However, because the Commerce Department holds primary jurisdiction over export controls, Bessent indicated that responsibility for the inaction rests there, telling CNBC that observers would need to ask Commerce about its internal processes.
Megaspeed, previously led by Alice Huang, is suspected by U.S. officials of routing advanced Nvidia microchips around export restrictions to destinations in China. The controversy has intensified following the recent resignation of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, drawing sharp bipartisan scrutiny over how effectively restricted hardware has been monitored.
Amid the growing pressure, a U.S. official confirmed that Lutnick has agreed to appear before the Senate Banking Committee on December 10 to testify regarding the Commerce Department's oversight of AI chip exports. While Bessent declined to comment on reports of administrative friction between himself and Lutnick, the Commerce Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
