Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang joined President Donald Trump’s delegation at the last minute Tuesday night, boarding Air Force One for the much-anticipated summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Huang, a Trump supporter who has repeatedly pressed Congress and the administration to ease export restrictions on AI chips, was not on the original list of CEOs invited to the summit that was released on Monday. Other executives invited to the summit, which is scheduled for Thursday and Friday, include Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Apple CEO Tim Cook, and Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon. Huang’s participation has sparked speculation about whether chip export issues might arise during discussions. “Jensen is attending the summit at the invitation of President Trump to support America and the administration’s goals,” a Nvidia spokesperson said in a statement shared with POLITICO. The White House extended the invitation to Huang after media reports claimed he had not been invited, according to a person who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details of the trip that have not yet been made public. “CNBC incorrectly reported that the Great Jensen Huang, of Nvidia, was not invited to the incredible gathering of the World’s Greatest Businessmen/women proudly going to China,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Tuesday. In reality, Jensen is currently aboard Air Force One, and unless I specifically ask him to depart—which is extremely unlikely—CNBC’s report is wrong, or, as they say in politics, FAKE NEWS! Huang successfully persuaded the administration to greenlight sales of Nvidia’s H200 chips — now the company’s third-most advanced offering — to China last December. The decision has drawn doubt from China hardliners across the political spectrum, who worry that allowing Beijing access to more sophisticated U.S. chips would hand the rival a competitive advantage in the worldwide AI contest.
Artificial Intelligence – POLITICO