Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) on 12 November shared on X a post by William Evanina, whom Cornyn described as the former Director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, which said that “China’s Megaspeed received between 5 and 7 billion dollars worth of Nvidia chips, or in reality, China did, which they should not have.” The post does not say how the range was reached.
By our count of the reports we read, Cornyn is one of 8 sitting Republican members of Congress, six senators and two House committee chairs, who publicly called for an investigation, export-control legislation, a subpoena or a resignation over Nvidia chip sales and Megaspeed between 9 and 12 November. Democrats, including Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, made calls of their own, Reuters reported.
Business Pill · GPUs Explained
An evergreen Business Engineer explainer on why AI runs on GPUs, the export-controlled chips at the centre of the calls in Congress. It teaches the general idea only and does not discuss this story.
The key insight: As we read it, the Republican calls split four ways: by our count, four senators asked for an investigation, three members backed export-control bills, two House chairs raised a subpoena and one senator asked for a resignation, between 9 and 12 November.
Cornyn’s post, at 01:10 UTC on 12 November, reads: “This from the former Director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC).” It quotes Evanina’s post from 23:09 UTC on 11 November, 2 hours and 1 minute earlier, by our arithmetic.
Evanina’s post opens “Watch this story very closely.” and later says “The race for the narrative, blame, and hearings has begun.” It closes “Eyes wide open.” One sentence of it names individuals; under our editorial policy we do not reproduce it or embed the posts. When we read it at about 05:05 UTC, Cornyn’s post showed 1,165 likes and 104,547 views on X’s counters.
Two days earlier, Cornyn told The Hill that he wanted a probe into reports that the Commerce Department approved chip sales to alleged shell companies with ties to the Chinese military: “I don’t know yet, sort of, who was instrumental in those decisions. And that’s why I think there needs to be an investigation to figure out what exactly happened”. He also told The Washington Sun that Congress “absolutely” has a role, pointing to the Senate Intelligence Committee. Cornyn is leaving the Senate after losing his primary bid, that outlet reported.
Sitting Republican members of Congress who publicly called for an investigation, export-control legislation, a subpoena or a resignation over Nvidia chip sales and Megaspeed between 9 and 12 November 2026, by kind of call. Sources: The Washington Sun (NOTUS), The Hill, Reuters, POLITICO, the Senate Banking Committee, and Bloomberg and ABC News as cited in our earlier coverage. The count of eight is ours, from the reports we read.
Eight Republicans on the Record
Four senators called for an investigation in interviews with The Washington Sun on 10 November. Besides Cornyn, Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said the allegations “need to be investigated by the Justice [Department], FBI, CIA, Congress”. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said: “I think we need to figure out what’s going on there, and where those chips have gone to.”
Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.) said “this needs to be investigated to find out if indeed the allegations are true”, the outlet reported. On 9 November, Sen. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said in a joint statement: “It is time for Congress to take decisive action to pass key bills like the AI Overwatch Act in the NDAA that will cut off pathways through which China accesses advanced chips.”
Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), a member of the Senate Banking Committee, called on Nvidia’s chief executive to resign, POLITICO reported late on 10 November. Cramer called the board’s internal investigation “fine, but not nearly enough”, POLITICO reported.
In the House, Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast (R-Fla.) called for AI export-control bills to ensure “China can never get their hands on our most advanced technology”, The Hill reported, and wrote on X that the situation was “a massive concern for the national security of the United States”. He told ABC News on 10 November that he was prepared to issue a subpoena, as we reported in our piece on the subpoena threat.
House China Committee Chairman John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) said in a statement that chip-export restrictions should be included in the annual defence bill, Reuters reported on 10 November. On 11 November he said Congress is prepared to issue a subpoena, according to Bloomberg.
We did not count Rep. Rick Crawford (R-Ark.), who co-signed the House chairs’ 4 November briefing letter but is not reported with a new call this week; Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), who declined to say whether Congress was planning an investigation; or House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie, who told Reuters his committee would have to act once the FBI investigation moves forward.
Democrats’ Calls
Schumer called on Congress to pass the AI Overwatch Act, the Chip Security Act and the MATCH Act, Reuters reported. Three House Foreign Affairs Democrats, Gregory Meeks, Gabe Amo and Sydney Kamlager-Dove, urged Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to halt advanced AI chip exports to China, The Washington Sun reported.
The Hill reported that the parties differ in focus: Democrats are likely to be more focused on what President Trump knew and when, while the Republicans it quoted stopped short of questioning the president’s actions.
Four Figures, Four Measures
Evanina’s $5 billion to $7 billion is his assertion. The Information has reported that at least $7.5 billion worth of Nvidia chips moved through Megaspeed and its Malaysian subsidiary, Speedmatrix, according to Fortune’s summary of that report. By our arithmetic, $7.5 billion is $0.5 billion, or about 7%, above the top of Evanina’s range.
Bloomberg reported on 9 November that Megaspeed’s imports of Nvidia products top $4.6 billion, according to Techmeme’s summary, as noted in our explainer on Megaspeed. For scale, Nvidia’s last 10-Q with a Singapore row put $10,156 million of revenue billed to Singapore in the quarter to 27 July 2025, as set out in our piece on the Singapore billing line; the filings do not mention Megaspeed and tie that line to no customer.
Singapore says it is investigating Megaspeed for “suspected breaches of our domestic laws”, Fortune reported. Megaspeed has denied wrongdoing, and Nvidia has previously said it found no evidence of illicit chip transfers, according to Fortune. Nvidia’s board said on 8 November that it had no reason to believe “either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised”.
Four dollar figures, shown side by side and not added up: Nvidia revenue billed to Singapore in the quarter to 27 July 2025 ($10,156 million in its 10-Q, rounded to $10.2 billion), The Information’s reported at least $7.5 billion of Nvidia chips moved through Megaspeed (as summarised by Fortune), the $5 billion to $7 billion range in the post Cornyn shared, and Bloomberg’s reported more than $4.6 billion of Megaspeed imports of Nvidia products (as summarised by Techmeme).
As we read the figures, the range in the post Cornyn shared tops out $0.5 billion below the at least $7.5 billion The Information reported, by our arithmetic, and neither figure is a filing or an official finding.
As we read the count, six of the eight members are senators, and the calls came through interviews, a joint statement with a Democrat, a press statement and posts on X.
Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), to The Washington Sun, 10 November 2026
“We need to find out what’s going on”
Three Implications
FOR CONGRESS The Senate Banking Committee has jurisdiction over three chip-export bills under consideration for the annual defence bill, POLITICO reported.
FOR NVIDIA Its board said on 8 November that it had no reason to believe “either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised”.
FOR MEGASPEED Singapore says it is investigating the company for suspected breaches of its domestic laws, and the company has denied wrongdoing, Fortune reported.
The framework argues that the AI supply chain is “creating geopolitical leverage that operates independently of who has the best models”.
As we read it, congressional calls for export-control bills are one route by which that leverage is written into law. The framework predates these calls and does not discuss them.
What Is Not Established
Evanina’s post gives no source, period or method for its range. We read The Information’s figure only through Fortune’s summary and Bloomberg’s through Techmeme’s; none of the three is a filing or an official finding, and they measure different things. Nvidia’s Singapore billing line counts where invoices were sent.
Our count covers the reports we read and may miss members who spoke elsewhere. Whether any investigation, subpoena or bill follows is not established. We did not contact Cornyn’s office, Evanina, Nvidia or Megaspeed for this piece.
This Week In The AI Supercycle
The Great Convergence of Capital, Power, and Geopolitics
This week’s issue: for two years the AI build-out was priced as a supply story, and last week as a credit story. This week it was priced as a permission story, and the answer arrived as a cost, not a ban.
Cornyn shared a post putting Nvidia chips received by Megaspeed at $5 billion to $7 billion, against The Information’s reported $7.5 billion or more. By our count, he is one of 8 sitting Republicans, six senators and two House chairs, who publicly called for an investigation, legislation, a subpoena or a resignation between 9 and 12 November.
A note on sourcing. Gennaro Cuofano passed us Sen. Cornyn’s post. We read it and the post it quotes in full, and read in full the reports of The Washington Sun (formerly NOTUS, 10 November), The Hill (11 November), Reuters (10 November), POLITICO (10 November) and Fortune (11 November), and the Warren-Banks statement posted by the Senate Banking Committee. Bloomberg’s and ABC News’s reports are as cited in our earlier coverage.
The Information’s figure is as summarised by Fortune and Bloomberg’s import figure as summarised by Techmeme; we have not read either article in full. The count of eight and the arithmetic are ours. Under our editorial policy, this piece names no private individuals and does not reproduce one sentence of the quoted post. We did not contact Cornyn’s office, Evanina, Nvidia or Megaspeed.
Gennaro Cuofano is a CRO and tech executive who has worked in AI since late 2015, starting with bringing NLP, natural-language generation, voice and chatbot products to the marketing industry. His background is in law and finance: he holds a Master's degree in Law and an International MBA with an emphasis on corporate finance (LUISS Business School and the University of San Diego, 2012), and worked as a financial analyst at a real-estate investment firm in San Diego and as an assistant controller. His work focuses on business model strategy, business engineering and, more broadly, structural analysis: how companies make money, read from their own filings. He created FourWeekMBA and leads research there and at The Business Engineer, his newsletter on AI and business strategy, with over 95,000 subscribers and more than 1,000 published analyses. His writing has also appeared on Entrepreneur (for example, How to Digitize a Family Business in Europe) and HackerNoon. Find him on LinkedIn and Substack. See how we source.
