U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent questioned whether Nvidia knowingly sold AI GPUs to shell companies and called for accountability, while blaming the Commerce Department for delays in restricting exports.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent questioned whether Nvidia knowingly sold AI GPUs to shell companies and said anyone at the company involved should be held accountable, according to Tom's Hardware.
Bessent said in a CNBC interview that there is "a lot of leakage in the system" regarding restricted hardware reaching China or other adversaries. He questioned whether Nvidia knew its clients and whether the company made a robust effort to ensure it was not selling to pass-through shell companies.
"I think it is important that anyone at the company there be held accountable for that," Bessent said.
He added that it is unclear whether Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang knew about the potentially illicit practices. "We do not know for a fact that Jensen Huang knew this," Bessent said.
Bessent criticized Nvidia's general counsel Timothy Teter, saying the general counsel "seems to have been very involved here, probably should have done more oversight rather than the haranguing [government officials at the U.S. DoC]." He expressed confidence that Nvidia's board of directors would conduct a thorough investigation.
Bessent said the Departments of the Treasury, War, and State, as well as the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, supported adding Singapore-based Megaspeed to the Entity List for months. However, the authority to impose export restrictions belongs to the Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security.
"Commerce has the pen, and you will have to ask them about their internal processes," Bessent said. "My deputy has been pushing this for months."
Bessent said the Commerce Department reportedly stalled efforts to blacklist Megaspeed because Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick feared the move could worsen trade tensions with China. Bessent said the U.S. does not need more stringent export restrictions or additional government powers, but should properly enforce existing regulations.
The dispute highlights a split within the U.S. Cabinet over enforcement of export controls on advanced AI chips. Bessent places responsibility on Nvidia for its sales controls while faulting the Commerce Department for delays in restricting exports to companies such as Megaspeed.
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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