Nvidia Co-Founder Jensen Huang to Join US CEOs in China for Diplomatic Visit

Nvidia Co-Founder Joins US President Trump's China Trip, AI and Technology in Spotlight

US President Donald Trump's visit to China has taken a significant turn with the last-minute addition of Nvidia Corp. co-founder Jensen Huang to the US delegation. Huang's inclusion in the 36-hour pow-wow with Xi Jinping has thrust AI and technology into the spotlight, as the two leaders are expected to discuss war, tariffs, and the self-ruled island of Taiwan.

Huang is among several US business leaders, including Apple Inc.'s Tim Cook and Tesla Inc.'s Elon Musk, who will accompany Trump on his first overseas trip since waging war in the Middle East. The list of attendees until Tuesday had not included Huang, whose company makes the chips at the heart of the AI boom and has been pushing for greater leeway in a market he's identified as a $50 billion opportunity.

Nvidia's shares extended gains to more than 3% in after-hours Blue Ocean trading, as investors bet on Chinese AI developers gaining access to more powerful Nvidia accelerators. The big-ticket item for Trump would be seeking Beijing's approval for Chinese customers to buy Nvidia's advanced H200 AI chips, which require Washington's permission for export to China due to US concerns that the technology could boost the Asian country's military.

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The inclusion of Nvidia's H200 AI chips in the trip's agenda could be a major breakthrough for the company, which has been pushing for greater access to the Chinese market. Shares of MiniMax Group Inc. and Knowledge Atlas Technology Joint Stock Co. (Zhipu) soared in Hong Kong, as investors bet on Chinese AI developers gaining access to more powerful Nvidia accelerators.

Trump's team granted H200 licenses several months ago in a major reversal of US policy and huge win for Nvidia's Huang. However, Beijing remains a holdup, as China's central government has for years complained about US export controls on advanced technology. Beijing also wants to achieve self-sufficiency in semiconductors and boost domestic champions like Huawei Technologies Co.

In April, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that no H200s had been shipped to Chinese firms because the "Chinese central government has not let them, as of yet, buy the chips, because they're trying to keep their investment focused on their own domestic industry." It's unclear how much new inventory Nvidia is now sitting on.

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White House spokesman Steven Cheung said Huang's schedule changed and "it just happened to work out." Trump called Huang this morning and asked him to come, and the Nvidia leader flew to Anchorage to meet Air Force One on its planned layover, according to a person familiar with the matter. Cheung said he wasn't aware of Trump calling Huang before the schedule change.

The executives joining Trump are all from companies with significant existing China exposure and represent sectors expected to be part of the trip's commercial agenda, according to another person familiar with the matter. US export controls have long been a sticking point in trade discussions between Washington and Beijing, and the inclusion of Nvidia's H200 AI chips in the trip's agenda could be a major breakthrough for the company.