Nvidia’s Jensen Huang Excluded From Trump’s China Business Delegation

Suehyeon Lee

Summary

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was left off the list of business leaders accompanying President Donald Trump on his trip to China.
The market viewed Nvidia’s exclusion as a symbolic move reflecting the US stance on advanced technology export controls toward China and the broader US-China technology rivalry.
With Congress pushing a bill to restrict exports of Nvidia’s next-generation AI chips, uncertainty is growing around the company’s China business, which it sees as an opportunity worth about $50 billion.

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Nvidia Corp. Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang has been left off the list of business leaders set to accompany President Donald Trump on his trip to China.

Bloomberg reported on May 11, citing a White House official, that the delegation will include major executives such as Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook and Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk. Huang was not included.

The decision comes as the Trump administration maintains curbs on advanced technology exports to China. Nvidia, which makes key artificial intelligence chips, is at the center of the US-China technology rivalry, giving the omission added symbolic weight.

Huang is also known to have maintained close ties with Trump in recent months. In an interview last week, he said it would be an honor to join the trip if invited.

Nvidia views China as a roughly $50 billion market opportunity and has continued to press the US government to ease restrictions on AI chip exports. Late last year, the Trump administration partially relaxed those curbs by allowing some exports of Nvidia’s H200 chips to China.

Congress, however, continues to pursue measures aimed at limiting transfers of AI technology to China. Lawmakers have recently pushed legislation that would restrict exports of Nvidia’s next-generation AI chips.

The market has taken Huang’s exclusion from the delegation as a sign that Washington is treating technological supremacy as a core issue in negotiations with Beijing.