[WASHINGTON] Nvidia chief executive officer Jensen Huang is meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday (Jul 10), days before a planned trip to China by the head of the world’s most valuable chipmaker, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Details of what the two men would discuss were not immediately available, and the sources familiar with the meeting declined to elaborate on the agenda. Spokespeople for the White House had no immediate comment. Nvidia declined to comment.
Nvidia’s CEO has been vocal about the need for US companies to access the world’s largest semiconductor market and is a frequent visitor to China. He’s returning to the country at a sensitive time for the company, which has become ensnared in a broader US-China tech conflict as the foremost producer of chips for artificial intelligence (AI) development.
Huang has called for easing US technology export curbs because they give Chinese rivals such as Huawei Technologies an unfair advantage. US restrictions have effectively locked Nvidia out of China, the largest market for chips, and as a result, the company expects to lose out on US$8 billion in sales this quarter alone.
Huang’s meeting with Trump also comes a day after Nvidia became the first company to surpass US$4 trillion in market capitalisation, with investors signalling continued enthusiasm for an AI boom that has buoyed shares across the technology sector.
Trump touted the company’s soaring share price in a social-media post earlier Thursday, citing the boom in tech stocks as a reason for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates.
“Tech Stocks, Industrial Stocks, & Nasdaq, hit all-time, record highs! Crypto, “through the roof”. Nvidia is up 47 per cent since Trump tariffs. USA is taking in hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs,” Trump wrote.
Nvidia’s chips are prized for their ability to power AI applications, with tech giants Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Amazon.com and Alphabet projected to put about US$350 billion into capital expenditures in their upcoming fiscal years.
Huang is scheduled to travel to Beijing, where he will meet with senior Chinese officials, including the commerce minister, according to a source familiar with the situation. He will also be taking part in the International Supply Chain Expo in Beijing next week, the source said, asking to remain anonymous to discuss a plan still in flux. BLOOMBERG
