Howard Lutnick is helping shape US rules on advanced artificial intelligence chips while his family’s former financial firm has business ties to data-centre companies that could be affected by those controls.
The potential overlap centres on a facility in Malaysia called A201, which is due to open next year with hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of Nvidia’s most advanced AI servers. The computing capacity is expected to be made available to Tencent, the Chinese internet giant, allowing it to access chips that cannot be sold directly to Chinese companies.
The arrangement is legal under current US rules. Chinese firms are barred from buying Nvidia’s most advanced chips outright, but can rent computing power from data centres in countries including Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.
A201 is being developed by Bitdeer, a Singapore-based company that has used Cantor Fitzgerald as a sales agent for share offerings worth up to $1 billion this year and $250 million in 2024. Cantor also has other financial relationships with data-centre businesses operating across south-east Asia.
Mr Lutnick led Cantor Fitzgerald for decades before joining the Trump administration as Commerce Secretary. He handed control of the firm to his sons and, by October 2025, had transferred his remaining ownership stake to his family.
The Commerce Department is now considering how far to extend restrictions aimed at stopping Chinese companies from accessing advanced American chips through overseas data centres. Mr Lutnick has been viewed inside the administration as resisting tougher measures, amid concerns that broad controls could harm Nvidia and other US businesses.
Debate over overseas data centres
The administration has been divided between officials who see the facilities as a route around the ban on direct chip sales to China and those who argue that excessive restrictions would damage American technology companies and trade relations.
Commerce officials have proposed applying new controls to a limited group of countries, including Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Brazil, South Africa and Norway. The proposal would cover only future shipments of advanced chips and would exempt data centres already equipped with American technology.
Under the plan, companies would have to notify the US government if Chinese customers used their facilities to train AI models, but would not automatically require a licence. The rules would also take effect only when a higher level of computing power was being used, potentially leaving more activity outside regulation.
Chris McGuire, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a former Biden administration official, said Chinese companies could evade narrower restrictions. “If you’re only restricting remote access to data centers in certain countries, then China will just rent from the data centers outside those countries,” he said.
The Biden administration introduced global rules in its final weeks to restrict Chinese companies’ remote access to US chips. Donald Trump revoked those measures after taking office, arguing that they held back American business and innovation, while officials began work on a replacement.
Mr Lutnick has been described as delaying or weakening technology controls at several points over the past year. His department has proposed a more limited approach, while other administration officials have argued for rules covering data centres worldwide.
Bitdeer says the Malaysian facility is expected to generate $1.7 billion in revenue over five years. The company operates a Chinese-language website through which customers can rent AI chips and access Chinese open-source AI models from data centres in Malaysia, Canada and elsewhere.
Cantor Fitzgerald also holds a stake in Bitdeer through its investment in the cryptocurrency firm Tether. It has previously provided financial services to Gorilla Technology, which is developing data centres in Thailand and Indonesia, and has worked with other Nvidia partners including the Australian cloud-computing company IREN and Texas-based developer Lancium.
The financial relationships represent only a small part of Cantor’s wider business, and other investment banks have similar interests in overseas data centres. There is no evidence that Cantor’s investments influenced Mr Lutnick’s deliberations, but the connections have raised questions about possible conflicts as he helps determine the future of US technology-export policy.
The Commerce Department said Mr Lutnick makes policy decisions in the best interests of the United States. It said he does not discuss department matters with his sons, nor do they discuss Cantor Fitzgerald business with him.
Before completing the transfer of his ownership, Mr Lutnick had received a limited waiver allowing him to take part in certain decisions with a “direct and predictable effect on Cantor Fitzgerald”. He remains subject to ethics rules barring federal employees from using public office for the benefit of themselves, their relatives or friends.
