Lutnick in hot seat over Nvidia-Megaspeed scandal

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Technology Newsletter Lutnick in hot seat over Nvidia-Megaspeed scandal by Julia Shapero and Miranda Nazzaro - 11/13/26 5:25 PM ET Link copied by Julia Shapero and Miranda Nazzaro - 11/13/26 5:25 PM ET Link copied NOW PLAYING {beacon} Technology Technology The Big Story Lutnick in hot seat over Nvidia-Megaspeed scandal Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is facing heat in Washington over his stance on AI chip export controls following Nvidia’s national security scandal this week. © Evan Vucci, Associated Press Lutnick is under scrunity after reports emerged this week that he took a softer line on Nvidia over the tech giant’s AI chip sales to China and failed to put the Singaporean firm Megaspeed on the trade entity blacklist. In the face of calls to testify from both sides of the aisle, Lutnick agreed to appear before Congress, but the blame game is already starting with the Trump administration. “Treasury, War, USTR [U.S. Trade Representative] and State … were in favor of putting Megaspeed on the entity list for months,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Friday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “But Commerce has the pen. Commerce BIS has the pen, and you will have to ask them about their internal processes,” Bessent added, referring to Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security. Megaspeed is at the center of the Nvidia scandal, an ordeal that led the company’s founder, Jensen Huang, to resign as CEO on Thursday. Reports indicate Huang had an affair with a former Megaspeed executive whom U.S. intelligence officials believe may be a Chinese spy. It’s not clear when Trump administration officials were made aware of the intelligence community’s suspicions, but Bessent’s comments signal the administration was aware of risks involving Megaspeed. Marshall Billingslea, who worked at the Treasury Department during Trump’s first term, noted it is “quite unusual” for Bessent to go public about Cabinet-level discussions about “a matter as sensitive as” the Nvidia-Megaspeed affair. “To his credit, Scott Bessent & [Secretary of State Marco] Rubio’s team have consistently been right on this topic. Lutnick just ran roughshod over everyone,” Billingslea wrote on the social platform X. Read more in a full report on Sunday at TheHill.com Welcome to The Hill’s Technology newsletter, we’re Julia Shapero and Miranda Nazzaro — tracking the latest moves from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. Did someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here. Essential Reads How policy will be impacting the tech sector now and in the future: Uber reports US driver’s license information stolen during data breach Uber disclosed this week an unauthorized third party improperly accessed the ride-hailing platform’s data, according to a notice shared by the California attorney general’s office. In the notice, dated Nov. 10, the company said a service provider notified them of the incident a month prior. The platform then conducted an investigation, which found the unauthorized party used compromised internal credentials to access … Full Story Trump ‘gaslighting’ over Huang controversy: Kara Swisher Left-leaning journalist Kara Swisher criticized President Trump’s response to former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s scandal involving an extramarital affair with a suspected Chinese spy, saying the president is downplaying the seriousness of the allegations. “He has to say nothing’s going on here … because if there were, he’s in real trouble,” Swisher told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins in a Thursday interview. “This is serious … Full Story Microsoft ‘seeing encouraging recovery progress’ in global Outlook, Teams outage Microsoft is still working to restore access to its services after a massive global outage impacted dozens of its services on Thursday. The company said early Friday that it is “seeing encouraging recovery progress,” according to a statement shared on social media. “Some users may still experience intermittent issues as recovery actions continue,” it reads. “We’re focused on recovery for the remaining affected environments … Full Story The Refresh News we’ve flagged from the intersection of tech and other topics: OpenAI launches ChatGPT Wallet, allowing its ‘dots’ AI agents to make purchases for users (CNBC) Meta testing new prediction market app with employees (Wall Street Journal) Crypto Corner White House taps bipartisan nominees for SEC, CFTC © AP Andrew Harnik A pair of financial regulators may finally be getting some new commissioners. President Trump has tapped two officials each to serve on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). He nominated Democrat Kristin Johnson and Republican Steven Levine to serve on the SEC, while putting forward Democrat Matthew Rowland and Republican Nathan Anonick for the CFTC. All four nominations require Senate approval, either by the Senate Banking Committee or Senate Agriculture Committee. Both the SEC and CFTC typically have five-member bipartisan commissions. But over the past two years, they dwindled down to just two Republicans at the SEC, Chair Paul Atkins and Commissioner Mark Uyeda, while CFTC Chair Michael Selig is the sole commissioner at the commodities regulator. This became a point of contention for Democrats during negoitations over the failed Clarity Act, which aimed to create a regulatory framework for the cryptocurrency industry. The SEC and CFTC are the two main regulators tasked with overseeing crypto markets. The Hill’s Max Rego has more here. Crypto Corner is a daily feature focused on digital currency and its outlook in Washington. In Other News Branch out with other reads on The Hill: How Jensen Huang’s resignation from Nvidia is threatening AI-powered economy Jensen Huang’s departure from Nvidia threatens the stability of the AI industry and the market as a whole, as experts express differing outlooks on the chipmaker’s future. Huang resigned as CEO of the company he built from the ground up, Nvidia’s board of directors announced Thursday, after The New York Times reported on a pair of extramarital affairs he had — one with an alleged Chinese spy. Shares of Nvidia dipped on Thursday … Full Story You’re all caught up. Check out The Hill’s Technology page for the latest coverage. Like this newsletter? Take a moment to view our other topical products here 📩 Privacy Policy | Manage Subscriptions | Unsubscribe 400 N Capitol Street NW Suite 650, Washington, DC 20001 Copyright © 1998 – 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved. Close Thank you for signing up! Subscribe to more newsletters here The latest in politics and policy. Direct to your inbox. Sign up for the Technology newsletter Subscribe Tags Howard Lutnick Scott Bessent Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. 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