Lutnick faces chip export scrutiny

Fallout from Jensen Huang’s (黃仁勳) ouster as Nvidia Corp chief executive officer is reaching deep into Washington, where US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has drawn scrutiny over whether his department did enough to keep the company’s prized artificial intelligence chips out of China’s hands.

As the ultimate overseer of US export control programs, Lutnick would be accountable for any policy or enforcement gaps that allowed Nvidia’s AI processors to reach unauthorized Chinese buyers. For now, the Commerce chief has the blessing of President Donald Trump, who gave Lutnick a vote of confidence hours after Nvidia announced Huang’s resignation on Thursday.

Huang’s abrupt departure was prompted by revelations of an affair with a woman suspected by US officials of spying for China and whose Singapore-based company Megaspeed had been under investigation by Commerce for possible export control violations. Megaspeed has denied any wrongdoing, while the former Nvidia chief’s alleged romantic partner, Alice Huang (黃樂), is now in China.

Then-Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, left, listens to US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick at the G20 Innovation Ministerial summit in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, on Sept. 2.

Photo: Reuters

In the aftermath, Congress is demanding answers from Lutnick and other Trump administration officials about decisions that might have made it easier for China to obtain Nvidia’s advanced semiconductors as well as the degree to which Silicon Valley leaders like Jensen Huang might have influenced policy.

Pressure on the administration and the tech sector is escalating a week after an election in which voters expressed intense frustrations over the impact of the AI boom.

“I would like for Secretary Lutnick ASAP to come testify before the Senate Banking Committee because we have a lot of bipartisan questions and concerns about what’s happened over the last year,” US Senator Jim Banks, an Indiana Republican, said in an interview on Fox News.

Late on Thursday night, US Commerce Department spokesperson Kristen Eichamer said in a statement that “Secretary Lutnick has proactively agreed to appear voluntarily before the Banking Committee to address their questions.”

Axios reported on Wednesday that Trump had authorized a new crackdown on companies suspected of diverting advanced AI chips to China, but that Lutnick delayed acting on the directive. US Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, an Illinois Democrat, called the report “deeply, deeply disturbing.”

On at least three occasions earlier this year — in May, August and earlier this month — Trump approved taking action against suspected diversions of Nvidia chips to China, Axios reported.

This week’s events are “a freaking disaster at this point, and it deserves tremendous scrutiny not only by obviously Nvidia’s board, but by the intelligence community and the US government as well,” Krishnamoorthi said in an interview on Bloomberg Television on Wednesday.

Further complicating the dynamic are allegations by Democratic lawmakers that Lutnick’s sons, who hold leadership positions at Cantor Fitzgerald, are profiting off of policy decisions that he makes. Lutnick, who previously was CEO of Cantor, divested his stake as legally required before becoming secretary, and elevated his sons to top jobs at the firm.

People with ties to the White House, who asked not to be identified describing private conversations, said Lutnick has been marginalized within the administration for a while. At the same time, his exit has been predicted before but it has not happened.