Lutnick Pushed to Weaken Chip Rules Tied to Family Firm’s Client
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has pushed for looser limits on Nvidia chip sales to Southeast Asian data centers, including one whose operator is a client of Cantor Fitzgerald, the firm he once led and handed to his sons, according to a report published November 15, 2026.
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has pushed to weaken chip rules that overlap with the business of his former firm, according to a report published on November 15, 2026. The rules cover sales of advanced Nvidia chips to data centers in Southeast Asia.
One of those data centers, known as A201, sits in Malaysia's southern peninsula. It is set to open next year, packed with hundreds of millions of dollars in Nvidia's most advanced artificial intelligence servers.
A legal route around the ban
The data center plans to supply that computing power to a Chinese tech giant. The setup is legal and profitable. It also sidesteps US rules that ban sales of the most advanced AI chips directly to Chinese firms.
The company operating A201 is a client of Cantor Fitzgerald, the financial services firm Lutnick formerly led. He handed leadership to his sons. He is now writing rules that would substantially affect the data center's business.
A two-year internal fight
The Trump administration bans the sale of cutting-edge chips to China, citing concern about ceding the country's advantage in AI. For much of the past two years, officials have argued over how far to go in limiting chip sales to data centers in Southeast Asia.
China hawks see those facilities as a way for Beijing to get around the ban. On the other side are officials, most prominently Lutnick, who want to avoid limiting the ability of US companies such as Nvidia to sell their products in Asia.
Lutnick has been seen as a force slowing rules that would clamp down on sales to data centers like A201. Those sit outside China but provide AI computing power to Chinese firms.
What is under consideration
Recently, Lutnick has advocated a less stringent version of the controls now under consideration. The tougher version could cut into Nvidia's business by giving the US government more oversight of chip sales to international data centers.
It is the latest example of what the report describes as Lutnick's soft touch on chip regulation. That approach has drawn criticism from lawmakers and others in the administration.
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