Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Chris Coons formally demanded that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller preserve all records tied to Nvidia's China sales. Late Thursday, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott requested sworn testimony from both Lutnick and former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. According to the November 11 letter released by the Senate Banking Committee and reporting Friday from The Washington Post, lawmakers focused heavily on a Commerce Department probe opened in 2024 into Singapore-based data center operator Megaspeed.
That inquiry examined whether advanced Nvidia semiconductors sold to Megaspeed were illegally diverted to China in violation of federal restrictions. Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Chris Coons noted that the investigation was reportedly transferred to the Justice Department and altered following direct communications between Nvidia representatives and Commerce officials. Lawmakers also demanded the preservation of all records regarding pre-APEC export control deliberations and counterintelligence briefings provided to Nvidia leadership. Megaspeed has maintained it cooperated fully with federal inspections. Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Chris Coons wrote: "This incident raises significant concerns about the federal government's ability to effectively enforce our export controls and protect our national security."
Arab News and Fortune reported Thursday that senior White House officials have privately discussed replacing Commerce Secretary Lutnick following months of internal frustration over delayed export sanctions. Media reports noted that the Commerce Department has not added any new companies to its restricted export entity list since October 2025, representing a pause of more than 13 months. In June, Reuters reported that the Trump administration shelved a proposed package that would have added more than 100 Chinese firms to the blacklist. MLQ.ai reported that Republican Senator Tom Cotton is pressing Commerce officials to blacklist Chinese memory chipmaker CXMT.
