Nancy Pelosi's Nvidia Trade Under Scrutiny As Senate Set To Vote On Major Chip Industry Subsidy Bill

The U.S. Senate is likely to vote Tuesday on a bipartisan bill that proposes granting of subsidy to chip companies in a bid to improve the industry's competitiveness with China, Reuters reported.

What Happened: The new legislation, according to Reuters, is a condensed version of a bill the Senate passed in mid-2021, which subsequently did not become law. The June bill envisaged a $52 billion subsidy for chip companies and a $200 billion grant to increase U.S. competitiveness.

House speaker Nancy Pelosi released a statement in January, supporting the bill, named "America COMPETES Act," that was introduced in the House.

Pelosi's support raised eyebrows as it was disclosed last week that the speaker and her husband Paul Pelosi made three trades, including exercising an option to buy 200,000 shares of graphics processing unit manufacturer Nvidia Corporation NVDA. The transaction was reported as being done on June 17, with the value listed as between $1 million to $5 million.

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Why It's Important: The timing of Pelosi's Nvidia buy has ruffled some feathers.

"It certainly raises the specter that Paul Pelosi could have access to some insider legislative information," Craig Holman, a government affairs lobbyist for the left-wing think tank Public Citizen, told the Daily Caller.

This is why there is a trading app to monitor the Pelosi family's investment activities and followers of the app mirror their trades, he reportedly said.

South Carolina Representative Ralph Norman, a Republican, also questioned the purchase.

"Obviously Speaker Pelosi would be aware of the timing of this legislation over in the Senate," said Norman, according to Daily Caller.
"On the heels of that vote, for anyone in her orbit to purchase seven-figures worth of stock of a U.S.-based chip manufacturer just reeks of impropriety."

Photo: Creates with images from Financial Times and Gage Skidmore on Flickr