Bessent Publicly Blames Commerce for Not Blacklisting Megaspeed, Says Four Agencies Backed Move for Months

• Dispatched: Nov 13, 2026 · 14:38 ET (19:38 UTC)

One-sentence summary: U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on CNBC on November 13 that the Commerce Department has stalled for months on adding Megaspeed — the Singapore cloud firm at the center of the Nvidia chip-diversion scandal — to the Entity List, even though Treasury, the Pentagon, the State Department and the U.S. Trade Representative all supported the move, and he questioned Nvidia's own customer vetting.

Verification status: ✓ Cross-confirmed by multiple authoritative outlets (Reuters + CNBC interview + CNN and BBC the same day); Bessent's remarks are on-the-record interview quotes. Allegations that Megaspeed diverted restricted Nvidia chips to China and that Alice Huang has intelligence links are not yet confirmed.

Core Facts & Consensus Delta:

Reuters first reported the story at 09:17 ET / 14:17 UTC on November 13, 2026. On CNBC's "Squawk Box" that morning, Bessent said Treasury, the Pentagon, the State Department and the U.S. Trade Representative had favored adding Megaspeed to the Commerce Department's Entity List "for months," adding: "But Commerce has the pen. You will have to ask them about their internal processes." He said President Donald Trump had made clear China should not receive Nvidia chips above the H100 level, then turned to Nvidia's due diligence: "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?" Both parties in the Senate added pressure the same day: Republican Senator John Curtis said Lutnick's reported stalling "raises the question of whether the Commerce Department is acting in the best interests of the American people," while Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal said "Lutnick must go." Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott had already summoned Lutnick to testify publicly on December 10, and Reuters reported on November 12 that senior White House officials were discussing whether to push Lutnick out. China's Foreign Ministry responded the same day, opposing what it called the abuse of export-control measures. As of publication, Commerce had not responded to a request for comment, and no decision on listing Megaspeed had been announced.

Supply-Chain & Market Read-Through: The Entity List is administered by Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security: once a company is listed, U.S. firms need a license to supply it, effectively cutting off compliant access to advanced AI chips and related services. Nvidia reportedly placed Megaspeed on its own internal block list in June 2025. If Commerce ultimately lists Megaspeed, it would tighten a key transshipment node in Singapore and force chip suppliers to deepen customer due diligence and end-user checks, with possible knock-on effects for compute-rental supply routed through third-party cloud providers; if the delay continues, lawmakers have already called for tougher restrictions on China's access to advanced AI chips, and controls could increasingly move into legislation. For HBM and memory makers (SK Hynix 000660.KS, Samsung Electronics 005930.KS, Micron MU, SanDisk SNDK), the episode imposes no new restriction on memory products, so the near-term direct impact is limited, though the direction of travel is toward stricter compliance scrutiny of AI-chip shipments to China.

Next Catalysts & Watchpoints:

• December 3, 2026 (ET): Jensen Huang testifies publicly before the Senate Banking Committee; December 10, 2026 (ET): Lutnick testifies before the same committee and will be expected to explain the Megaspeed listing decision.
• Whether Commerce adds Megaspeed to the Entity List or announces new export-control rules before the hearings; closed-door depositions of Huang and Nvidia's general counsel by three House committees on December 1–2.

Sources:

• Reuters (Published: 2026-11-13 09:17 ET / 14:17 UTC)
• NBC Palm Springs (CNN wire) (Published: 2026-11-13 14:30 ET / 19:30 UTC)
• BBC (via CitrixNews) (Published: 2026-11-13 10:40 ET / 15:40 UTC)

Information only, not investment advice.