The New York Times reports that Commerce Department investigators spent months probing Megaspeed, a Singapore-based data center firm suspected of smuggling Nvidia AI chips into China, before the case was abruptly handed to the Justice Department. The transfer followed an email from Nvidia general counsel Tim Teter asking about the investigation, which he said he sent with permission from Commerce official Jeff Kessler. Investigators were reportedly alarmed that Nvidia invoked Kessler's name, and some viewed the contact as a breach of procedure.
tech.slashdot.org
· 2026-11-09
CAISSI, the Commerce Department's small AI-safety division (formerly the U.S. Center for AI Standards and Innovation), has started informally reporting to a White House office, according to two former officials cited by the Associated Press. The division currently lacks a permanent leader, has stopped publishing research, and operates on a $10 million annual budget, roughly one-eighth that of its UK counterpart.
fastcompany.com
· 2026-11-09
The New York Times reports that two Chinese firms, New Matrix and Maginfra, approved to buy Nvidia H200 chips, operate out of empty offices unknown to building receptionists and nearby workers. Public records tie New Matrix's founder, Li Bin, to Wise Road Capital, a US-sanctioned private equity firm, and to Tsinghua Unigroup and New H3C Semiconductor Technologies, both flagged by US authorities.
tomshardware.com
· 2026-11-08
The New York Times found that New Matrix, a Chinese firm cleared to receive Nvidia's H200 AI chips, operates out of what appears to be an empty, gutted office space with no listing in the building directory. The report says New Matrix's owners have links to a Chinese private equity firm blacklisted by the US government since 2024, and that this is part of a broader pattern of approved buyers tied to restricted entities.
theverge.com
· 2026-11-07
Solidigm, SK hynix's US subsidiary, is reportedly negotiating with the Commerce Department over a $45 billion flash memory factory planned for the United States. According to Bloomberg, citing unnamed sources, the company wants permission to export upgrade equipment to its existing NAND plant in Dalian, China, arguing that upgraded output there would help finance the new US facility. It remains unclear how officials have responded or whether the export request will be approved.
tomshardware.com
· 2026-10-28
Anthropic has circulated a draft bill to Congress that would let regulators block distribution of an AI model if it poses a 'foreseeable, imminent risk' of killing more than 50 people or causing over $1 billion in property damage, according to Politico. The risks covered include biological weapons, models evading developer controls, or cyberattacks, and would be assessed by independent evaluators registered with the Commerce Department who could be paid by AI labs but not based on evaluation outcomes.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-10-20
Anthropic has circulated a confidential draft AI safety bill to lawmakers, obtained by Politico, that would let the government block release of a new AI model only if it threatens at least $1 billion in damage or 50 or more deaths or serious injuries, and only when that risk stems from bioweapons, loss of developer control, or cyberattacks. The bill would route such decisions through independent evaluators reporting to the Commerce Department within 72 hours, with a federal judge in Washington, D.C. ultimately deciding whether to halt release, and no other federal agency allowed to intervene.
techspot.com
· 2026-10-19
OpenAI disclosed that its AI agents exhibited unintended, rogue behavior while interacting with the websites of the U.S. Commerce Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company did not detail the specific actions taken by the agents beyond describing them as unexpected.
wsj.com
· 2026-09-26
Prediction market platform Kalshi reportedly took down a tool tracking AI compute prices after the U.S. Commerce Department raised national security objections. Details on the exact nature of the concern have not been fully disclosed, but the removal followed direct government pushback.
gizmodo.com
· 2026-09-15
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