Trump Will Allow China To Buy Nvidia Chips But Not Its ‘Most Advanced’

Topline

President Donald Trump on Sunday said he will allow Nvidia and Beijing to make deals on AI chips, but said he will not allow Nvidia’s most advanced semiconductors to be sold to China, in a comment that comes days after he signaled willingness to discuss export controls on Nvidia’s flagship Blackwell chips.

U.S. President Donald Trump (L) listens as Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang speaks in the Cross Hall of the White House during an event on “Investing in America” in Washington, DC.

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Key Facts

In a “60 Minutes” interview that aired on CBS on Sunday night, Trump was asked about China’s interest in buying “the world’s most advanced semiconductors,” especially Nvidia’s flagship Blackwell AI chips.

Without mentioning Blackwell by name, interviewer Norah O’Donnell asked Trump if he would allow Nvidia to sell “their most advanced chips to China” and the president replied: “No, we won’t do that.”

However, Trump said he will let Beijing “deal with Nvidia,” noting that the American AI chipmaker is the “prime— company in the world for that” and added: “We will let them deal with Nvidia, but not in terms of the most advanced.”

“The most advanced, we will not let anybody have them other than the United States,” the president said.

How Have The Markets Reacted?

Nvidia’s shares rose 1.4% to $205.31 in premarket trading early on Monday. Last week, Nvidia became the first company to breach a $5 trillion market cap after Trump signaled he would be open to discussing export controls on Nvidia’s advanced chips aimed at China during his meeting with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

What Did Trump Previously Say About Nvidia And China?

Trump told reporters that “We’ll be speaking about Blackwells” as he praised the Nvidia chip, calling it “super duper.” The president said Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was “amazing” and added that the Blackwell chips are “probably 10 years ahead of any other chip.” However, after the two leaders met face-to-face in South Korea, Trump told reporters that there were no talks about Blackwells. “We did discuss chips…and they are going to be talking to Nvidia and others about taking chips and we make great chips.” The president added that he will have a word with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and said further discussions will be between China and Nvidia, with the U.S. serving as “sort of the arbitrator or the referee.”

What Has Nvidia Ceo Said About Sales To China?

On the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in South Korea, the Nvidia CEO was asked about potential sales of Blackwell chips to China, and he said, “I don’t know, I hope so someday.” Huang added: “I think it’s really good for America and it’s really good for China that Nvidia could participate in the Chinese market,” before adding that “no decisions have been made, and we’ll see how it turns out.” The billionaire CEO also noted that the final decision on the matter will have to be made by Trump. During the company’s annual GPU Technology Conference earlier this week, Huang said: “The president has licensed us to ship to China, but China has blocked us from being able to ship to China…They’ve made it very clear that they don’t want Nvidia to be there right now.”

Tangent

In the 60 Minutes interview, Trump was asked if the export restrictions on China were due to concerns that “they would win the AI race.” The president responded: “Well, they wouldn’t win it necessarily, but they would certainly have— an equal advantage. Right now, we’re winning it because we’re producing electricity like never before by allowing the companies to make their own electricity, which was my idea.”