Watchdog: Amid 'AI Summit', Commerce Sec. Lutnick's Family Business Conveniently Holds $1.1B Stake in AI Chip Companies Benefiting From Lax New Administration Trade Agreement

President Trump's ‘AI Summit’ today comes on the heels of major AI industry news last week that Nvidia—which controls over 90% of the AI chip market—celebrated assurances from the Trump administration that it could resume sales of its H20 AI chip in China, after the administration placed export controls on the chip over national security concerns. Meanwhile, semiconductor company AMD also reported that the Commerce Department said its MI308 chip export license was “moving forward.” The administration’s softer stance was also no doubt cause for celebration for the family of Trump Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, which holds a massive financial stake in both Nvidia and AMD.

A new analysis from government watchdog Accountable.US finds that Lutnick’s family business empire, Cantor Fitzgerald, reported over $886 million in Nvidia positions in Q1 2025, while Lutnick played a prominent role in lifting the administration’s trade restrictions -- even arranging a meeting between Trump and Nvidia’s CEO. Additionally, Lutnick’s family business reported positions of over $230 million in AMD, which said Lutnick’s Commerce Dept. would likely lift China trade restrictions on one of its own advanced chips.

Accountable.US Executive Director Tony Carrk: “Trump’s billionaire Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick once again played a central role in administration trade policy that just so happened to set up his family business for a massive pay day. Alarmingly, it has become the norm for the President and his cabinet to use their positions of power to drive more money into their own pockets while defending Trump’s brutal budget cuts, robbing millions of working Americans and seniors of basic health care and food security.”

The Trump Commerce Department’s 180 on Chinese export controls for AI is just the latest case of the heavily conflicted Secretary Lutnick playing a central role in Trump administration policy that coincidentally benefits his family business empire. In March, Lutnick told a national TV audience to buy Tesla stock, as his family business reportedly held approximately $840 million in the company. In May, Lutnick’s family increased its stake in the largest corporate Bitcoin holder, to a total of $1.3 billion, as Lutnick helped establish President Trump’s Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.

By temporarily divesting from Cantor Fitzgerald while he serves the Trump White House, Secretary Lutnick would have the public believe that the arrangement grants him plausible deniability regarding how administration policy could benefit his family's business empire. Beyond the implausibility of Lutnick never comparing notes with his 20-something-year-old sons in ‘control’ of the company, “nearly two dozen current and former employees and associates” of Lutnick’s have stated that the billionaire’s “grip on his various businesses is bolted tight.”