Bessent and Lutnick Dispute Nvidia Client Blacklist Delay

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick was questioned by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in the White House Situation Room on November 5 about Megaspeed. This Nvidia client is charged with smuggling US chips to China but was not placed on the blacklist.

According to Axios, Lutnick replied that he had no knowledge. For the past 13 months, the Commerce Department has not added any entity to the blacklist. In November, Nvidia's market capitalization dropped by approximately $700 billion.

US Chip Blacklist Has Not Expanded Since October 2025

The Entity List serves as the blacklist. Companies are barred from acquiring US technology without a license, and such licenses are generally turned down.

According to a tally by Yahoo Finance, the last name was added on October 9, 2025.

Over 100 firms are still waiting, among them the Chinese AI lab DeepSeek. Although a review panel approved them, the Commerce Department never released the names, Reuters noted.

Lutnick was already aware of the company. Senator Tom Cotton had alerted him in an October 2025 letter regarding the Singapore-based firm. Cotton stated that the firm's chip purchases amounted to almost 2% of a US company's global data center sales.

Megaspeed rejects the accusations of illegal chip transfers. Nvidia's board maintains that the CEO's spy scandal did not jeopardize national security.

Bessent Announced China Agreement Halting Stricter Export Measures

Bessent was also the one to announce the October 2025 trade truce with Beijing. The pact suspended a policy that would have applied Entity List restrictions to any entity that was at least 50%-owned by a listed company.

He stated in September that the truce would be in effect until January 10, 2027. According to law firm Baker McKenzie, on November 5, the day of the clash, Commerce extended the frozen rule to that same date.

The Commerce Department says it employs the blacklist daily against malicious entities. In May, it also shut an AI chip export loophole. Former Commerce official Kevin Kurland remarked that trade policy is

"overshadowing the use of a critical national security tool."

Nvidia stock climbed 2.7% to $173.29 early Wednesday. The company's earnings release is scheduled for November 17. The truce expires on January 10. Megaspeed is poised to become the first blacklist addition in 13 months.