Gallego Calls It ‘Shady’ as Report Says Lutnick Is Writing Chip Rules That Hit a Client of His Sons’ Firm
Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) wants Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, his sons and former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to testify under oath, as a new report says Lutnick is writing chip-export rules that would affect a data center run by a client of his family’s former firm.
In Malaysia’s southern peninsula, a data center known as A201 is set to open next year “packed with hundreds of millions of dollars in Nvidia’s most advanced artificial intelligence servers,” and it plans to supply that computing power to a Chinese tech giant, The New York Times reported Sunday. The setup is legal, but it sidesteps U.S. rules that bar selling the most advanced chips directly to Chinese firms.
The company operating the data center is a client of Cantor Fitzgerald, the financial firm Lutnick led before handing it to his sons, the Times reported. “Mr. Lutnick is now writing the rules that would have a substantial effect on the data center’s business,” the paper wrote.
Lutnick Has Pushed a Softer Version
The administration has argued for two years over how far to limit chip sales to data centers in Southeast Asia that rent computing power to Chinese companies. China hawks see the centers as an end run around the ban, while Lutnick has pushed back against going too far, according to the Times. He has recently been advocating “a less stringent version” of the controls under consideration, the paper said.
The Commerce Department rejects any suggestion of a conflict. “The secretary has fully complied with the terms of his ethics agreement, including all divestiture and recusal requirements, and will continue to do so,” a spokesperson told NPR. “He has divested all financial interests in Cantor Fitzgerald, Newmark, and BGC.”
‘They All Should Come in Under Oath’
Gallego was blunt. “This is shady as [expletive]. Lutnick, his nepo sons and Jensen have to come before the Senate Banking Committee. Glad that Chairman Scott has requested a hearing but they all should come in under oath,” he wrote on X Saturday, quoting a post by Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin about Cantor’s work as a financing agent for Southeast Asian data center companies.
The pressure is coming from inside the administration, too. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Friday that Treasury, State, the Pentagon and the U.S. trade representative all favored blacklisting Megaspeed, the Singapore firm at the center of the Nvidia spy scandal, but “Commerce…has the pen,” CNN reported. Some Trump advisers have discussed whether Lutnick should be dismissed, according to the network.
CNN also reported that Lutnick, before he was confirmed, told Huang “whenever you need the president, call us.” Huang resigned Thursday after reports of an affair with a Megaspeed executive U.S. officials suspect of spying for Beijing, as CDN reported. The White House has said Trump “maintains complete confidence” in Lutnick.
Trump is set to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Shenzhen next week.
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