Jensen Huang Joins Trump’s China Delegation After Presidential Phone Call

CNBC reported Tuesday that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang joined President Donald Trump’s delegation to China this week after Trump called him directly. Huang had not appeared on any earlier list of executives traveling with the president.

A Last-Minute Call Changes the Trip

According to a source familiar with the matter cited by CNBC, Trump saw media coverage noting Huang’s absence from the delegation and promptly phoned him. Huang then flew to Alaska to board Air Force One before the group continued to Beijing. Nvidia confirmed the participation in a statement, saying Huang was attending at Trump’s invitation to support American and administration goals. The White House did not respond to a request for comment before publication.

Trump later posted on social media confirming Huang’s presence aboard Air Force One. He disputed earlier reports that the Nvidia boss had not been invited and outlined his intentions for the summit. His stated first request to Chinese President Xi Jinping would be opening China further to US businesses, referencing the wider group of more than a dozen executives making the trip.

Why Chip Access to China Matters

The stakes behind Huang’s presence are significant. Nvidia’s most powerful chips, the processors central to training large AI models, have faced escalating US export restrictions on sales into China over the past four years. Earlier this year the company acknowledged that even government-approved chip variants had not yet cleared Chinese market access. Beijing has responded by accelerating domestic alternatives, including homegrown processors and AI models such as DeepSeek that sidestep Nvidia hardware entirely. A piece published this month in the Chinese Communist Party’s flagship journal acknowledged local AI developers had been slowed by the restrictions, while noting Nvidia’s commanding share of the global GPU market.

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Expectations Remain Cautious Despite Symbolic Presence

Former US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez tempered expectations in comments to CNBC’s Squawk Box Asia. He said a deal on export controls remained unlikely in the near term, though he acknowledged Huang’s inclusion was symbolically meaningful for both the executive and the administration. Trump is scheduled to hold formal meetings with Xi on Thursday and Friday. The summit agenda also reportedly covers Taiwan arms sales and other sensitive bilateral issues.

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