Maria Curi

NEW: The world is wondering why the Trump administration has not taken action against the company at the center of suspected Nvidia chip smuggling and an espionage scandal involving CEO Jensen Huang.

Six high-level sources all pointed to one administration official who they say has repeatedly stood in the way: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

w/@MarcACaputo

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Details from inside the room w/@MarcACaputo: At a White House Situation Room meeting on Thursday after the midterm elections, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pressed Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on why Megaspeed had not been added to the Commerce Department's entity list.

Lutnick initially stammered, sources said, and then replied: ""I don't know. I'll look into it."

Commerce Undersecretary Jeff Kessler also was repeatedly warned about Megaspeed in deputy meetings but deferred to Lutnick: "That's a decision for the secretary."

WHY IT MATTERS: The Commerce Department oversees the export of sensitive U.S. technologies and Lutnick's actions — or lack thereof — are increasingly under scrutiny following revelations that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang had an affair with Megaspeed employee and suspected Chinese spy Alice Huang.

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SCOOP: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick was sent a highly classified memo warning about Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's relationship with suspected Chinese spy Alice Huang.

Lutnick oversees the agency charged with keeping sensitive U.S. technology out of the hands of American adversaries. The warning raises questions about how the department weighed potential security risks as it cleared advanced Nvidia chip sales to China-affiliated entities.

W/@MarcACaputo

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Jensen Huang's affair with an alleged Chinese spy will fuel the push to pass legislation to curb sales of chips to China -- the MATCH Act, the Chip Security Act, and the AI OVERWATCH Act

Texas is now ground zero in the AI wars for two big reasons.

1. Elon Musk and other tech elites fled California's regulatory regime and set up shop in Texas but now face a similar fate there.

2. Texas was poised to become home to one of the world's largest concentration of data centers, then came Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa.

More in new Behind the Curtain Column:

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