Wire reporting: (Reuters, via CNA)

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Friday that U.S. controls on advanced chip exports had substantial leakage and that adding Singapore-based Megaspeed to the Commerce Department Entity List had been a Bureau of Industry and Security decision, as critics questioned Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick's handling of Nvidia sales tied to China^1,4.

Bessent, speaking to CNBC as reported by the Times of India, said Nvidia lacked robust controls to detect whether spying was taking place and that the administration was working to close gaps⁴. He said Treasury had favored listing Megaspeed for months, that the Office of Foreign Assets Control does not govern those exports, and that the Federal Trade Commission might also use a restrictive list⁴.

Megaspeed became a large Nvidia customer. U.S. officials suspect the firm of routing advanced artificial-intelligence chips to Chinese buyers in ways that circumvent export rules, and they believe former Megaspeed executive Alice Huang, who is not related to Jensen Huang, worked as a Chinese intelligence asset^1,6. Beijing has denied that allegation^6,8. Jensen Huang resigned as Nvidia's chief executive on Thursday amid reports of extramarital relationships, including one with Alice Huang^1,6.

CBS News reported that Commerce has not added a company to the Entity List since October 2025¹. Under the prior administration, the Bureau of Industry and Security opened an inquiry into Nvidia sales to Megaspeed; CBS, citing other reporting, said that inquiry later moved to the Justice Department, which declined to comment¹. Commerce did not respond to CBS¹.

Chris McGuire of the Council on Foreign Relations told CBS the core issue was weak enforcement of export controls, saying Commerce had long been aware of U.S. suspicions about Alice Huang¹. Ethics scholar Kathleen Clark asked whether the public could be confident Lutnick was serving the public interest¹.

Before taking office, Lutnick led Cantor Fitzgerald, which CBS said held about $1.2 billion in Nvidia stock at the time of his nomination, and he had other China-linked business ties that senators raised at confirmation¹. He left those posts, told senators he took a hard view of China, and said the United States needed to protect itself¹. After Huang's resignation, Sen. Elizabeth Warren asked Lutnick and undersecretary Jeffrey Kessler to explain why export-control gaps remained open¹.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said Thursday there was a developing consensus in Congress to limit China's access to advanced chips⁶. Lawmakers are pushing measures that would expand congressional say over chip exports, require location tracking of advanced processors, press allies on chipmaking tools, and curb remote access to U.S. chips, according to a Reuters-origin report carried by CNA⁶. Jensen Huang is expected to appear before Congress before Thanksgiving⁶.

Chinese analysts told the South China Morning Post that further U.S. chip curbs could bring tighter rare-earth export controls, though they expected trade talks before a planned meeting between President Donald Trump and China's Xi Jinping next week in Shenzhen to continue⁸. Mao Ning of China's foreign ministry said further limits on Chinese access to U.S. computing power would disrupt supply chains and that both countries should keep economic ties stable⁸.

What Commerce will do on Megaspeed, and whether Congress will write new limits into the defense bill, is not settled on the public record^1,4,6.