Jensen Huang of NVIDIA faces Trump 'again' over '100% semiconductor tariffs'

Korea Economic Daily

Summary

President Trump announced that about a 100% tariff would be imposed on semiconductors.
NVIDIA produces chips in Taiwan and imports them to the U.S., so the tariffs are likely to have a significant impact on NVIDIA.
CEO Huang has reportedly lobbied President Trump to exclude his company's AI chips from the tariffs.

Returns to the White House after 27 days

NVIDIA mainly manufactures chips in Taiwan

Tariff impact on semiconductors inevitable

Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, the leading company in artificial intelligence (AI) chips, visited the White House after President Donald Trump of the United States announced a 100% tariff on semiconductors. It has been 27 days since CEO Huang last met with President Trump to seek approval for resuming exports of NVIDIA's H20 AI chips to China.

Bloomberg reported on the 6th (local time) that CEO Huang and President Trump met at the White House. This meeting notably took place as President Trump had announced plans for high tariffs on imported semiconductors.

President Trump had previously signaled tariffs by item on semiconductors and other products. In an interview with CNBC, a U.S. economic media outlet, on the 5th, he stated that he would announce additional tariffs on certain products "next week or so," mentioning semiconductors and pharmaceuticals as target items.

President Trump explained, "It's because we want those products (such as semiconductors) to be made in the United States." On the same day, President Trump announced Apple's investment plans in the U.S. at the White House and declared, "We will impose about a 100% tariff on semiconductors."

However, he did not mention a specific implementation date. According to Bloomberg, CEO Huang has been lobbying President Trump to exclude his company's AI chips from these tariffs.

NVIDIA produces most of its chips in Taiwan, so tariffs on imported semiconductors can have a significant impact on NVIDIA. The details of the discussions during the meeting were not disclosed.

Last month, CEO Huang met with President Trump and managed to obtain approval for resuming sales of his company's H20 chips to China. The Trump administration had suspended sales of these chips to China in April when tensions in U.S.-China trade escalated, citing national security.

Soo-bin Park, Hankyung.com Reporter waterbean@hankyung.com