The United States forbids sales to China of the most-cutting edge AI chips, hoping to stay ahead of the Chinese in the race to dominate artificial intelligence.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called on Nvidia Sunday to explain whether it knowingly allowed its most advanced AI chips to reach China, saying this was more important than ex-CEO Jensen Huang's affair with an alleged spy for Beijing.
Speaking on "Fox News Sunday Morning Futures" three days after Huang resigned, Bessent said he wants to know if Nvidia used shell companies to dodge US restrictions and sell its most powerful chips to China.
The United States forbids sales to China of the most-cutting edge AI chips, hoping to stay ahead of the Chinese in the race to dominate artificial intelligence.
In late 2025, President Donald Trump did authorize sales of Nvidia chips called H200s to the Chinese -- but not the most advanced chips used to run AI models reshaping modern society.
"Nothing above the H200s can be sold to the Chinese," Bessent said.
"What's more important here," he said, "is to examine whether Nvidia had a culture of compliance around the US export restrictions."
He alluded to companies linked to Megaspeed, the Singapore-based data center company that Huang's alleged lover Alice Huang once worked for.
