Bessent accuses Lutnick of failing to stop China from obtaining Nvidia chips

U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent accused Commerce Secretary Lutnick of failing to stop China from obtaining Nvidia's most advanced chips, saying the Treasury Department and several other departments had for months advocated adding Singapore's Megaspeed to the entity list, but the decision rests with the Commerce Department. Bessent said Trump has explicitly demanded that China not obtain Nvidia chips above the H100, and that any outflow would weaken U.S. companies' advantage in the AI race. Chris McGuire, former technology director at the Biden administration's National Security Council, said on the program that a rule introduced by the Biden team in early 2025 required most foreign companies to obtain Commerce Department licenses to buy advanced chips, was originally set to take effect in May 2025, but two days before it took effect the Commerce Department said it would not enforce it, allowing Megaspeed to procure without restriction. Bessent also questioned whether Nvidia knows its customers and whether it has guarded against shell resale companies. The program cited findings by independent researchers this week that China's AI models are all developed relying on smuggled advanced Nvidia chips.