Trump’s China visit: Why Nvidia’s Jensen Huang’s surprise Beijing trip is drawing global attention
Nvidia co-founder Jensen Huang joined US President Donald Trump on his visit to China and focused on artificial intelligence and technology ahead of a key summit in Beijing.
The list of attendees through Tuesday did not include Huang, whose company makes the chips at the heart of the artificial intelligence boom and has been pushing for more leeway in a market he describes as a $50 billion opportunity.
Nvidia’s CEO was seen on the tarmac as he boarded the presidential plane, and Trump later confirmed his attendance in a social media post, saying it was an honor to have Huang and other business leaders on the US delegation.
“I will ask President Xi, a Leader of extraordinary distinction, to ‘open up’ China so that these brilliant people can work their magic and help bring the People’s Republic to an even higher level!” Trump said this in his post. “Actually, I promise, when we get together in a few hours, I’ll make that my first request.”
What was the confusion about Huang joining the trip?
Asked why Nvidia’s Huang was joining Trump’s trip, White House spokesman Steven Cheung said Huang’s schedule had changed and “everything was going well.” Trump called Huang this morning and asked him to come over, and the Nvidia leader flew to Anchorage to meet with Air Force One during the scheduled layover, according to a source familiar with the matter. Cheung said he was unaware that Trump had called Huang before the schedule change.
“Jensen is attending the summit at the invitation of President Trump to support America and the administration’s goals,” Nvidia said in a statement.
Nvidia’s concern: Will Trump meet with Xi?
It’s unclear whether Trump will raise concerns with Xi specifically about Nvidia. Shares of Nvidia rose more than 3 percent in after-hours Blue Ocean trading.
The big ticket will be getting Beijing’s approval for Chinese customers to buy Nvidia’s advanced H200 AI chips. These products, used to train and run models such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, have always required Washington’s permission to export to China due to US concerns that the technology could strengthen the Asian country’s military.
Who else is accompanying Trump?
Huang is among several U.S. business leaders, including Apple Inc.’s Tim Cook and Tesla Inc.’s Elon Musk, on Trump’s first overseas trip since the war in the Middle East. This trip will include a 36-hour meeting with Xi Jinping that is expected to cover the war, tariffs and the self-governing island of Taiwan.
Trump will be joined by Boeing Co.’s Kelly Ortberg and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s David Solomon, among others.
