FOUR key US government agencies had supported placing Singapore-based cloud computing firm Megaspeed on a trade blacklist months ago, according to US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Still, the Commerce Department did not act, intensifying scrutiny over Washington’s handling of alleged Nvidia chip diversions to China.
Speaking to CNBC’s Squawk Box, Bessent said the Treasury Department, Pentagon, State Department and Office of the US Trade Representative all favoured adding Megaspeed to the Commerce Department’s Entity List, which restricts companies deemed to pose national security risks.
“Commerce has the pen,” Bessent said, referring to questions about the delay in the department’s internal decision-making process.
His remarks come amid growing political pressure on Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick over reports that export-control actions targeting companies suspected of redirecting advanced Nvidia chips to China were delayed despite concerns within the administration.
Bessent said the Trump administration was focused on closing “leakage” in the US chip export system and questioned whether Nvidia had adequately vetted Megaspeed and related entities. He said companies must be held accountable if export controls were circumvented through intermediary firms.
“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?” Bessent said.
The controversy has sparked calls in Congress for tighter restrictions on China’s access to advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chips and renewed scrutiny over enforcement of existing export-control measures.
Meanwhile, Malaysia has launched its own investigation into whether AI chips linked to Megaspeed were re-exported from the country in violation of local laws.
Malaysia’s Investment, Trade and Industry Ministry (MITI) said it is working with the Royal Malaysian Customs Department to determine whether chips imported by SpeedMatrix, Megaspeed’s Malaysian affiliate, were subsequently shipped to other destinations and whether any such transfers complied with Malaysian regulations.
The ministry emphasised that AI chips can currently be imported into Malaysia without a permit. However, since July last year, permits have been required for the export, re-export, transhipment or transit of high-performance US AI chips through the country.
“Malaysia will carry out its checks independently, in accordance with Malaysian law and based on the evidence available,” MITI said in a statement.
The ministry also rejected suggestions that it had cleared Megaspeed or SpeedMatrix of wrongdoing, saying any visits to data centre facilities were routine monitoring exercises rather than endorsements of the companies’ activities.
Malaysia said it was coordinating with authorities in Singapore and the United States and is considering additional safeguards to prevent the country from being used to bypass international export controls. — Nov 14, 2026
Main photo credit: Reuters
