Bessent Blames Commerce for Entity List Delay in Nvidia China Scandal

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on November 13, 2026 that four federal agencies supported placing Singapore-based Megaspeed on the Commerce Department's entity list for months, and that only Commerce blocked the move. "Treasury, War, USTR and State were in favor of putting Megaspeed on the entity list for months," Bessent said in a CNBC interview. "But Commerce has the pen. And you will have to ask them about their internal processes."

AFP called the remarks "a rare public rebuke of one cabinet department by another." The target is the department led by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. The dispute sits at the center of the widening scandal over Nvidia's chip sales into China.

Nvidia shares traded at $160.70 as of 1:03 PM ET, down 3.3 percent on the day. The company has no chief executive to steady investors. Jensen Huang resigned the post after acknowledging an extramarital affair, so Bessent's comments do not explain the decline on their own.

What is on the record, and what remains allegation?

Bessent spoke only in a television interview. His account on X published nothing on Nvidia, Megaspeed or Commerce. No agency has acted since his remarks.

The entity list is a trade blacklist maintained by the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security. Exports to listed parties require a license. Megaspeed has not been added.

The case against Megaspeed remains an allegation. According to AFP, the firm "is suspected of helping Chinese firms get around US export controls by buying Nvidia chips for its data centers in Southeast Asia and routing them to China."

The reported scale of the purchases varies by outlet:

• AFP reports Megaspeed traded more than $4 billion in Nvidia chips over two years.
• Reuters, cited by Newsweek, places its purchases of advanced Nvidia AI chips at more than $4.8 billion since June 2024.
• Nvidia has not disclosed what share of its revenue Megaspeed accounts for.

Megaspeed has pushed back. The company said it "takes its compliance obligations under US export control laws extremely seriously" and has hired a U.S. law firm to review its compliance program.

Bessent framed Nvidia's own conduct as the central question. "The real story here should be: Did Nvidia know their client and was there a robust effort at Nvidia to make sure that there was no leakage and that they were selling to what were obviously pass through shell companies?" he said. He added: "I am sure that the board, now having woken up to what's going on, is going to do a thorough investigation."

How much Nvidia revenue actually rides on China?

Very little. Nvidia guided to $108.0 billion in revenue for the third quarter of fiscal 2027, the quarter ending October 2026, and that figure excludes any Data Center compute revenue from China. In the prior quarter, China Hopper shipments came in below 1 percent of Data Center revenue.

The exposure is therefore not to sales. It is to compliance and governance. If investigators conclude Nvidia ignored warning signs in its sales to third-party buyers, the liability lands on a company with a $3.885 trillion market value and a vacant CEO seat.

Why is Washington turning up the heat?

The Senate Banking Committee has escalated its inquiry. It asked Huang to testify on December 3 and Lutnick to appear on December 10. Lutnick agreed to the later date. Commerce spokesperson Kristen Eichamer said he "has proactively agreed to appear voluntarily."

The committee left no ambiguity about enforcement. It said it is "prepared to use all tools at our disposal, including subpoenas" if either man declines to appear.

Commerce disputes the framing of an interagency fight. A department spokesperson denied that a separately reported confrontation between Bessent and Lutnick occurred at a White House meeting. A White House official said President Trump "maintains complete confidence in the secretary." Bessent declined to comment on the reported tensions. His department does not control the entity list.

Does the cabinet feud change the case for owning Nvidia?

It changes the risk profile more than the earnings. China revenue in Nvidia's own guidance is already near zero. What matters now is what the board's investigation finds about sales to third-party buyers.

Three events will define the timeline:

• A Federal Register notice adding Megaspeed to the entity list.
• Any 8-K filing disclosing the board's findings.
• Lutnick's scheduled testimony on December 10.

If Commerce adds Megaspeed before the hearing, the move follows months of pressure that Bessent has now made public. If Commerce has not acted by December 10, the dispute between the two departments will likely dominate the hearing, with Nvidia's $4 billion-plus channel question still unanswered.