Arizona Rep. Greg Stanton says Nvidia CEO ‘has a lot of explaining to do,’ calls for Lutnick’s firing

U.S. Rep. Greg Stanton of Arizona on Thursday called on President Donald Trump to fire Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, accusing Lutnick of failing to stop advanced Nvidia chips from possibly being smuggled into China.

“I’m gonna give the president some advice. Fire him. He’s got to go,” Stanton said on CNN.

Stanton’s criticism centers on Megaspeed, a Singapore-based company U.S. officials suspected of helping China get around export bans on Nvidia’s most advanced artificial intelligence chips. He said the issue was on Lutnick’s radar for more than a year.

Commerce Department agents dropped their investigation into Megaspeed after hearing from Nvidia’s top lawyer, The New York Times reported this week. The Justice Department then opened a criminal inquiry.

“Other agencies were begging (Lutnick) to enforce these export control laws. He wasn’t doing it,” Stanton said.

Scrutiny of Nvidia grew after reports that Jensen Huang had a relationship with Alice Huang, a Megaspeed executive U.S. intelligence officials believe passed information to Beijing. Huang has since resigned as Nvidia’s CEO.

Three House Republican committee chairs have asked Huang to attend a closed-door briefing Nov. 18.

“He has a lot of explaining to do. How the heck he was selling $9 billion or more of the most advanced chips to Megaspeed … and whether or not many of those chips were transmitted into China, thereby circumventing American law,” Stanton said.

Stanton, a Democrat who won reelection in Arizona’s 4th Congressional District last week, sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Earlier this year, the committee unanimously passed his Semiconductor Controls Effectiveness Act, which would strengthen oversight of U.S. chip export controls.

Why Nvidia matters to Arizona

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. produces Nvidia’s Blackwell chip wafers at its north Phoenix complex.

Nvidia shares fell 4.3% Thursday, wiping out roughly $180 billion in market value, after plunging as much as 14% at the open following Huang’s resignation.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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