Bessent: 4 Agencies Backed Megaspeed Entity List; Commerce "Has the Pen"

Bessent said Commerce "has the pen" and that reporters "will have to ask them about their internal processes." He also said he is "frustrated when President Trump made it very clear China should not receive any Nvidia chips above H100s," the AP reported. Asked about a reported Situation Room exchange with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, he said, "We don't repeat conversations in the Situation Room," per CNBC. Commerce spokeswoman Kristen Eichamer told CNBC earlier in the week that the two men had "no such conversation." Commerce did not immediately respond to CNBC or the AP on Friday about Bessent's remarks.

What the Entity List Does

The Entity List is the Commerce Department's tool for naming foreign companies and individuals whose purchases need a US license. The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) says listed parties face individual license requirements and review policies on top of the Export Administration Regulations' usual rules, and that the list sits in Supplement No. 4 to Part 744.

BIS says proposed changes are reviewed and approved by an interagency End-User Review Committee made up of the State, Defense and Energy departments and chaired by a Commerce employee, and that any member agency can recommend changes. Commerce therefore runs the process, which is the point Bessent made on air.

What Megaspeed Export Controls Mean for Chip Flows

Megaspeed is a Singapore-based company that prominently advertises a partnership with NVIDIA, the AP reported. It was accused last year of illegally shipping advanced NVIDIA chips into China, and said in December there was "no evidence" of such exports. On Nov. 12 it said it takes export-control compliance "extremely seriously" and wants to work "constructively and transparently" with the US government. The AP also noted that Chinese firms have reportedly reached NVIDIA chips through companies like it. Bessent said the real question is "Did Nvidia know their client," and added: "I think that there is a lot of leakage in the system, and we are constantly working to close that down." NVIDIA's earlier line on diversion claims is in our Oct. 29 report.

The mechanics are where the economics sit. Today a US supplier needs no license specific to Megaspeed because it is not listed. A listing would put a license requirement on each GPU or server shipment in which Megaspeed is a party, and BIS sets the review policy for each listed entity. That would add delay and approval risk for a Southeast Asian buyer of AI hardware, and it would put a compliance burden on NVIDIA and server makers selling to it. This is an analysis of how the tool works, not a forecast of what Commerce will do.

What Is Not Confirmed and the Record So Far

The New York Times reported, as Voltgrid covered on Nov. 9, that a Commerce probe of Megaspeed moved to the Justice Department after an email from NVIDIA's general counsel. Beyond that, the background on Jensen Huang and a former Megaspeed executive is in our earlier reports and is not retold here.

Commerce has not answered Bessent on the record, and no one has said Megaspeed will or will not be listed. Lutnick has agreed to appear before the Senate Banking Committee, as Voltgrid reported on Nov. 13, but outlets give different dates and no committee notice confirms one. The reported Situation Room exchange is disputed: Commerce says no such conversation took place, and Bessent declined to describe it.