The New York Times reports:

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confronted Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick last week over his handling of a Singaporean company at the heart of revelations about Chinese spying on Nvidia, demanding to know why the United States had not already banned sales of advanced A.I. chips to the firm.

The exchange, described by people briefed on it, highlighted growing tensions inside the Trump administration over A.I. policy in general and the Commerce Department’s posture toward Nvidia in particular.

The internal debate has only intensified after Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s chief executive, acknowledged he had an affair with a woman who had helped lead the Singaporean data center company, Megaspeed. [Continue reading…]

The New York Times reports:

Singapore’s government said on Thursday the United States had provided little help in its investigation into Alice Huang, the woman at the center of a spy plot that has led to the investigation of Nvidia’s chief executive, Jensen Huang.

Singaporean authorities held Ms. Huang’s passport to prevent her from leaving the country from June 2025 until February over “potential false declarations” in relation to her company, Megaspeed, which is based in the country, the government said in a statement. She was ultimately released with a “stern warning” and barred from re-entering Singapore.

The statement raises new questions about the response of the Trump administration to the case and why the U.S. government did not more forcefully intervene. According to the timeline in the statement, Singaporean authorities had been holding Ms. Huang’s passport well after President Trump was briefed last fall about her relationship with Nvidia’s chief executive and the belief that she was a Chinese intelligence asset. [Continue reading…]

The New York Times reports:

House Democrats are demanding that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick answer questions about the Trump administration’s policy toward advanced artificial intelligence computer chips and have raised concerns about efforts by China’s spy agency to access the technology, according to a new letter released on Monday.

The letter from Democratic members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee comes as congressional leaders are set to be briefed by intelligence officials later on Monday.

The intelligence briefing was supposed to be focused on Iran. But Democrats and Republicans are expected to press John Ratcliffe, the C.I.A. director, and Jay Clayton, the director of national intelligence, on a spy for China’s Ministry of State Security who had an intimate relationship with Nvidia’s chief executive, Jensen Huang.

In the letter, Representatives Gabe Amo of Rhode Island, Gregory W. Meeks of New York and Sydney Kamlager-Dove of California questioned the Commerce Department’s decision to allow exports of advanced computer chips.

“You cannot claim to be protecting American leadership in artificial intelligence while allowing our most advanced technology to reach a strategic competitor,” the lawmakers wrote. “National security must come before corporate sales targets.” [Continue reading…]