Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urged Nvidia's board to hire an outside CEO after Jensen Huang stepped down, citing concerns over chip sales and export controls. Megaspeed said Alice Huang left in August 2025 and is conducting an internal investigation.
By Hermes Vector
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called for a “dramatic shakeup” at Nvidia and urged its board to hire an outside CEO following Jensen Huang’s resignation, CNBC reported. Bessent questioned whether Nvidia pursued potentially illicit chip sales to boost earnings and suggested other executives should face scrutiny over compliance with U.S. export controls.
Bessent said in a Fox News interview: “I want to keep coming back to what was the culture at Nvidia, and were they pressing these seemingly illicit sales to goose their revenues and their earnings?”
He also said: “If this were a bank and they hadn’t complied like this, the OCC would be in there right now, and a lot of the executives would be removed,” referring to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
Nvidia named Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress interim CEO. Bessent’s comments come amid a growing rift with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick over suspected chip diversion to China. Bessent said several federal agencies had supported adding Megaspeed to the government’s export blacklist for months, adding, “But Commerce has the pen.” Commerce denied an Axios report that Bessent confronted Lutnick in the White House Situation Room.
Singapore-based Megaspeed International said Alice Huang left the company effective Aug. 30, 2025, and currently has no role with the company. The company announced an internal investigation led by outside lawyers and told the Associated Press it runs a “legitimate and lawful business.”
Megaspeed said it was aware of media reports containing claims about its business, supply chain and global operations “that are not supported by verifiable evidence.” It did not address specific allegations.
Singapore authorities investigated Megaspeed and Alice Huang, whom the government identified as Megaspeed’s then-CEO, chairperson and one of its key controllers. They concluded there was insufficient evidence that she had committed a crime. U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Justice Department had not concluded whether Alice Huang was a Chinese spy. President Donald Trump said: “I don’t know if that’s been determined yet.” Beijing rejected the allegations as unsubstantiated.
The Treasury Secretary’s public call for leadership changes at Nvidia, combined with the ongoing export-control scrutiny of Megaspeed, places pressure on the chipmaker ahead of its first quarterly earnings since Huang’s departure.
Sources
This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.
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