The U.S. Commerce secretary has accepted a request to appear before the Senate Banking Committee on Dec 10 to address the government’s failure to keep advanced AI chips out of China. Howard Lutnick will be questioned on his role in the administration’s export oversight, following a separate request by Senate Banking Chairman Tim Scott for former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to testify on Dec 3 over the chipmaker’s ties to a potential Chinese intelligence source.
The hearings come amid reports that the Commerce Department allowed Nvidia’s general counsel, Tim Teter, to redline and insert critiques into the department’s own draft export policies. This new allegation follows criticism that Lutnick used loopholes to permit sales to firms such as Singapore-based Megaspeed, which purchased more than $4.8B of Nvidia hardware. While the White House says President Donald Trump maintains confidence in Lutnick, some administration officials have described the department’s handling of the scandal as a “complete and utter disaster.”
