--- title: "Bessent gives Nvidia's board 10 days to answer whether suspect China sales inflated its earnings" description: "Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has given Nvidia's board 10 days to answer whether suspect China sales inflated its earnings, two days before the first results since Jensen Huang resigned. What moves the stock on Tuesday is the Singapore-billed revenue Nvidia no longer breaks out, presented by interim CEO Colette Kress, who signed the deals under investigation as CFO." publisher: "The Inference" section: "Chips" published: 2026-11-15T20:10:33.834Z modified: 2026-11-15T20:10:33.834Z canonical: https://theinference.org/article/bessent-gives-nvidia-s-board-10-days-to-answer-whether-suspect-china-sales-inflated-its-earnings language: en keywords: "Nvidia, Semiconductors, Export Controls, China, Earnings" --- # Bessent gives Nvidia's board 10 days to answer whether suspect China sales inflated its earnings > Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has given Nvidia's board 10 days to answer whether suspect China sales inflated its earnings, two days before the first results since Jensen Huang resigned. What moves the stock on Tuesday is the Singapore-billed revenue Nvidia no longer breaks out, presented by interim CEO Colette Kress, who signed the deals under investigation as CFO. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent put a clock on [Nvidia](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/nvidia)'s board on Sunday: 10 days to say whether it pressed "[seemingly illicit sales to goose their revenues and their earnings](https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/bessent-questions-did-nvidia-goose-172921569.html)" [1][2]. He wants answers from the board and its outside counsel, and a new chief executive hired from outside the company, a "dramatic shake-up" [1][2]. [Jensen Huang](https://theinference.org/markets/people/jensen-huang), Nvidia's founder, resigned as chief executive on Thursday, November 12, [after reports of extramarital affairs](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bessent-demands-dramatic-shake-nvidia-182445143.html), one of them with Alice Huang, a former managing director at the Singapore data-center firm Megaspeed who is now under scrutiny for possible Chinese intelligence ties [2][5][6]. The affairs cost Huang his job [2]. Treasury's clock runs on the sales channel underneath Nvidia's reported numbers. ![Jensen Huang, in a black leather jacket, raises a hand to the crowd at the White House AI Summit in Washington](https://storage.googleapis.com/theinference-public/img/a0fbfad61153d2fa.jpg) *Jensen Huang at the White House AI Summit in Washington. He resigned as Nvidia's chief executive on November 12, 2026, and Altimeter Capital and Atreides Management want the board to keep open the possibility of his return. (The White House)* ## The Singapore-billed line is Tuesday's real test Nvidia reports the October quarter on Tuesday, its first results since Huang left and the first presented by interim CEO [Colette Kress](https://theinference.org/markets/people/colette-kress), his chief financial officer for 13 years [1][5][8]. Megaspeed is suspected by the United States of buying Nvidia chips for its Southeast Asian data centers and routing them to China; it traded more than $4 billion of Nvidia chips over two years, and the Justice Department is investigating it criminally [3][4]. Kress reportedly questioned some of those deals when they crossed her desk as chief financial officer, and signed them off [2]. Nvidia's guidance for the quarter assumes no China data-center compute revenue at all [4][5]. The line to watch is Singapore-billed revenue, which Bessent says Nvidia stopped breaking out in its filings after direct China sales fell and Singapore billings surged; [he cited reports that only about 1 percent of those chips stayed in the country](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/bessent-urges-nvidia-to-pick-outsider-as-next-ceo/ar-AA2huxM3) [6]. Nvidia says it investigated the allegations last year and rejects them [3]. The market has already priced the doubt: more than $1.2 trillion of Nvidia's market value has gone since the scandal broke in late October [1]. *Chart: **The quarter Treasury is questioning is guided as Nvidia's largest ever** Column chart of Nvidia quarterly revenue rising from $39.3B in Q4 2024 to $96.2B in Q2 2026, plus a guided $108B for Q3 2026 marked as an estimate.* *Quarterly revenue in US$ billions, by calendar quarter of period end; the final column is company guidance of $108B for the October 2026 quarter, which assumes no China data-center compute revenue. Sources: Nvidia SEC filings; Yahoo Finance. [5][7]* *Chart: **Reported profit has outrun operating cash in seven of the last eight quarters** Column chart comparing Nvidia's net income and operating cash flow by fiscal quarter from Q3 2024 to Q2 2026; net income is higher in seven of the eight quarters and reached $59.7B against $24.1B of operating cash in Q2 2026.* *Net income and operating cash flow in US$ billions, by fiscal quarter (Q2 2026 ended July 26, 2026). Operating cash flow is the cash Nvidia's business actually generated; net income is what it reported as profit. Sources: Nvidia, quarterly figures from its SEC filings. [10]* ## The fight over enforcement has moved inside the cabinet Bessent also moved the answer off Nvidia's desk and into the cabinet. Treasury, State, Defense and the trade representative favored putting Megaspeed on the export blacklist for months, he said, but "[Commerce had the pen](https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/policy/articles/treasury-secretary-bessent-throws-lutnick-183701449.html)," and the probe has since passed to the Justice Department [3][9]. The rules already exist, in his telling: Trump authorized sales of the H200 chip to China in late 2025, "nothing above the H200s can be sold to the Chinese," and "we have all the rules we need [2][3]. We just need them enforced" [2][3]. The dates land on Congress first. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick appears before the Senate Banking Committee on December 10, and Huang testifies behind closed doors in the House before Thanksgiving [3][8]. ## Holders want Huang back; Treasury wants an outsider The succession [the board opened on Thursday](https://theinference.org/article/nvidia-opens-its-first-ceo-search-in-33-years-with-jensen-huang-keeping-a-132-billion-stake), the company's first in 33 years, has split Nvidia's shareholders [2][8]. Altimeter Capital and Atreides Management, two investment firms holding Nvidia stakes of about $1.9 billion and $250 million, urged a "slow, measured" search that keeps "the potential return of Jensen Huang" on the table [2][8]. Separately, [a "Stand with Jensen" petition that Elon Musk says he signed](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/over-100-000-want-jensen-133708388.html) passed 108,000 signatures [5][8]. Analyst Dan Ives calls a return "ridiculous," and Trump has floated former [Apple](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/apple) chief [Tim Cook](https://theinference.org/markets/people/tim-cook) [2]. The chips and the demand behind them have not changed, and Nvidia's guidance already assumes the China business is zero [4]. What is unresolved is whether the market can verify the revenue of the company anchoring the AI buildout, and revenue that cannot be verified trades at a discount until it can be. Tuesday is the first look at whether Kress makes the Singapore line legible, and the clock says the answer is due before the next quarter. ## Takeaway Treasury has put a 10-day clock on Nvidia's board, and Tuesday's results are the first test of whether the Singapore-billed revenue underneath its earnings can be verified. ## Sources 1. [Axios via Yahoo Finance, "Bessent questions did Nvidia 'goose' earnings with suspect China chip sales", 15 November 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/bessent-questions-did-nvidia-goose-172921569.html) 2. [The Times via Yahoo Finance, "Bessent demands 'dramatic shake-up' at Nvidia after Huang exit", 15 November 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bessent-demands-dramatic-shake-nvidia-182445143.html) 3. [AFP via Yahoo Finance, "US Treasury chief wants answers soon from Nvidia", 15 November 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/us-treasury-chief-wants-answers-183327447.html) 4. [24/7 Wall St via Yahoo Finance, "Treasury Secretary Bessent throws Lutnick's Commerce Department under the bus as Nvidia's China scandal grows: 'Commerce has the pen'", 13 November 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/policy/articles/treasury-secretary-bessent-throws-lutnick-183701449.html) 5. [Yahoo Finance, "Over 100,000 Want Jensen Huang Back. Nvidia Stock's Real Test Comes Tuesday.", 15 November 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/over-100-000-want-jensen-133708388.html) 6. [The Wall Street Journal via MSN, "Bessent urges Nvidia to pick outsider as next CEO", 15 November 2026](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/bessent-urges-nvidia-to-pick-outsider-as-next-ceo/ar-AA2huxM3) 7. [Nvidia, quarterly revenue from its SEC filings, retrieved 15 November 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001045810) 8. [CNBC via MSN, "Nvidia board urged to consider 'potential return of Jensen Huang' by two major investors", 14 November 2026](https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/nvidia-board-urged-to-consider-potential-return-of-jensen-huang-by-two-major-investors/ar-AA2hroND) 9. [The Hill via MSN, "Bessent, Congress zero in on Lutnick's role in Nvidia-Megaspeed scandal", 15 November 2026](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/bessent-congress-zero-in-on-lutnick-s-role-in-nvidia-megaspeed-scandal/ar-AA2huhyZ) 10. [Nvidia, quarterly figures from its SEC filings, retrieved 15 November 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001045810) --- Bessent gives Nvidia's board 10 days to answer whether suspect China sales inflated its earnings — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/bessent-gives-nvidia-s-board-10-days-to-answer-whether-suspect-china-sales-inflated-its-earnings