Bessent Faults Commerce Dept. for Failing to Blacklist Megaspeed
The Treasury secretary blamed the department for not sanctioning the Singaporean firm and said that Nvidia employees should be held accountable if they sidestepped the law.
TL;DR
- Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent blamed the Commerce Department for the failure to sanction Singaporean data center firm Megaspeed.
- Bessent indicated that Treasury, Defense, State Departments, and the U.S. trade representative supported blacklisting Megaspeed.
- The Commerce Department has the sole authority to place firms on the entity list.
- Bessent questioned whether Nvidia knew its client, Megaspeed, and if they had robust measures to prevent sales to shell companies.
- Megaspeed is led by Alice Huang, whom U.S. intelligence considers an asset of the Chinese government.
- Alice Huang had a relationship with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who resigned amidst these revelations, causing Nvidia's stock to plummet.