White House weighs firing Lutnick over stalled China chip crackdown after Huang affair

firstpost.com —

The White House is reportedly considering firing Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick following former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's affair with a suspected Chinese spy, with Lutnick accused of stalling efforts to crack down on AI chip diversions to China. Reuters reports Lutnick refused to act on the Huang episode and blocked adding Chinese AI firm DeepSeek, chipmaker CXMT, and over 100 other companies to the export blacklist despite national security flags. President Donald Trump intervened Thursday, ordering a crackdown, though it has not yet begun. Huang resigned Thursday after revelations of alleged affairs with three women, including Alice Huang. Concerns include potential trade secret leaks, influence on US AI policy, and chip smuggling, with Trump having approved diversion actions at least three times previously.


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