Cantor Fitzgerald, Nvidia and Questions Over China Chip Controls

Highlights

The article examines Cantor Fitzgerald’s reported Nvidia holdings, its business relationships with companies in Nvidia’s orbit, and scrutiny of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s handling of suspected chip diversion to China. Securities filings reviewed by CNBC show Cantor’s reported Nvidia share count fell from 3.5 million at the end of 2024 to 1.78 million by the end of March 2026, although the filings do not explain why. The firm also helped finance businesses linked to Nvidia’s expanding AI infrastructure ecosystem. The reporting does not establish that the Lutnick family traded on confidential information or that Cantor’s business interests influenced government decisions. Officials and lawmakers have raised competing views about export controls and national security.

Sentiment Analysis

• Overall tone: Investigative and cautious. The article presents a web of financial relationships and policy disputes, but repeatedly distinguishes documented facts from questions that remain unanswered.
• Critical emphasis: The account highlights possible conflicts of interest and national-security concerns related to Nvidia chips reaching China. It reports that Howard Lutnick resisted pressure to target Megaspeed, while other departments reportedly supported placing the company on a restricted-entity list.
• Balancing context: Cantor says its disclosed positions arose in the ordinary course of client transactions and does not establish that its holdings reflected independent investment decisions. The report also notes that no evidence shows Lutnick shared nonpublic information with his sons or that Cantor’s reported share changes were connected to intelligence warnings.
• Human and institutional implications: The situation is portrayed as politically contentious, involving congressional scrutiny, administration disagreements and public statements supporting or questioning the officials involved.
• Visual sentiment: The overall sentiment is mixed, with a substantial critical focus balanced by caveats and the absence of evidence proving wrongdoing.

Article Text

Cantor Fitzgerald hosted Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and other senior executives for investor meetings in New York in late September, according to a research report reviewed by CNBC. In a report dated Oct. 3, Cantor analyst C.J. Muse and colleagues described Nvidia as the best risk/reward opportunity in their coverage and maintained a $350 price target and an overweight rating. The favorable research came as securities filings showed a notable reduction in Cantor’s reported Nvidia shares. The firm, once run by Howard Lutnick and now led by his sons Brandon and Kyle, reported holding 3 million shares in December 2025 and 1.78 million by the end of March 2026, a decline of 49% from September 2025, according to CNBC’s analysis excluding options.

The changes unfolded amid scrutiny of Lutnick’s role as commerce secretary and the administration’s approach to advanced chip exports. Axios reported on Nov. 11 that Lutnick repeatedly resisted efforts by White House and intelligence officials to crack down on Megaspeed, a Singapore-based company suspected of funneling Nvidia chips to China. A Nov. 10 Axios report said Lutnick had received a classified intelligence warning concerning Huang’s relationship with a suspected Chinese spy. Lutnick also appeared with Huang at a G20 technology summit in North Carolina.

The article reports that Cantor continued to work with businesses connected to Nvidia even as its reported shareholding decreased. The firm helped arrange financing for companies involved in AI computing infrastructure, including cloud provider IREN and developer Lancium. These relationships have drawn attention because Cantor’s leadership is the commerce secretary’s family, while the department has responsibilities related to export controls. However, the reporting does not establish that the family had advance knowledge of intelligence concerns, that shareholding changes resulted from government warnings, or that business interests shaped Lutnick’s decisions.

Cantor told CNBC that it had held only immaterial stand-alone proprietary positions in Nvidia from time to time. It said positions reflected in 13F filings were entered in the ordinary course of business through client swap transactions common in institutional markets. Cantor declined to answer other questions. The Commerce Department, the White House and Howard, Brandon and Kyle Lutnick did not respond to CNBC’s requests for comment. Richard Painter, a former White House ethics lawyer and University of Minnesota law professor, said there was no proof Lutnick shared nonpublic information with Cantor, but added that the appearance raised concerns. He said conversations between Lutnick and his sons should concern publicly available information.

At the end of 2024, Cantor disclosed more than 3.5 million Nvidia shares valued at $479 million. The share count remained steady through September 2025, while the reported value rose 36% to $652 million as the administration moved over the summer to ease restrictions on sales of Nvidia’s H20 chip to China. By the end of March 2026, Cantor reported 1.78 million shares valued at $310 million. Nvidia shares had more than doubled from their April 2025 lows by late October before falling in subsequent months; the stock declined about 6.5% between the end of September and the end of March. Cantor reported 1.81 million shares on June 30, the latest quarter covered by public disclosures. The figures do not show why its reported share count changed or whether its total financial exposure, including derivatives, decreased.

Much of Cantor’s reported Nvidia position was attributed to CF Secured, a brokerage subsidiary using stocks and derivatives to hedge customer transactions. Cantor also disclosed substantial options positions, overwhelmingly weighted toward puts, which can provide protection against falling share prices. Separately, its financing work included a May 2025 transaction for IREN. On May 7, Nvidia and the Australia-based cloud computing provider announced a five-year, $3.4 billion cloud computing contract and a strategic partnership that gave Nvidia the right to invest up to $2.1 billion in IREN. IREN co-CEO Daniel Roberts described Nvidia as a partner whose success depended on the company’s delivery.

On May 12, as President Donald Trump departed for China, IREN announced pricing for a convertible bond offering that raised $3 billion when it closed two days later. Cantor was one of seven bookrunners, alongside JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs. The article says it is unclear when IREN hired Cantor or how much the firm earned. On May 14, the Commerce Department cleared roughly 10 Chinese companies, including Alibaba and ByteDance, to buy Nvidia’s advanced H200 chips; some approvals predated the intelligence memo, according to the report. By June 30, Cantor reported $115 million in IREN shares and $362 million in Nvidia shares. Together, these positions represented more than 9% of its reported $5.2 billion in securities holdings, excluding options.

Cantor’s other reported work included advising AI infrastructure developer Lancium on a $600 million financing deal in October 2025 for a data center campus in Abilene, Texas, the first site of the Stargate project backed by OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle. Newmark, a commercial real estate firm controlled by Cantor, arranged a $7.1 billion construction loan for the campus in May 2025. The Information reported in August that Nvidia later agreed to invest $2 billion for a roughly 20% stake in Lancium, with up to $1 billion more tied to future milestones. Lancium confirmed an investment and technology partnership on Aug. 24 but did not disclose financial terms. The article says it is unclear whether Cantor advised Lancium afterward or participated in Nvidia’s investment.

Political scrutiny has broadened beyond the company’s holdings and financing. Senators Jim Banks and Elizabeth Warren urged Lutnick in March to suspend or reconsider Nvidia export licenses after three people linked to Nvidia customer Super Micro Computer were indicted on charges of conspiring to smuggle AI chips to China. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Friday that Treasury, Defense and State, along with the U.S. Trade Representative, had favored placing Megaspeed on the entity list for months, while identifying Commerce as the department responsible for the list. Senators Warren and Chris Coons also sought preservation of records concerning exports and intelligence warnings. Coons criticized the administration’s decision to license some advanced chips. The central unresolved issue is not whether the relationships existed, but whether the available records can establish any connection between those commercial ties, confidential intelligence and government decisions.

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