U.S. President Donald Trump met with Jensen Huang, the chief executive officer (CEO) of NVIDIA, a leader in artificial intelligence (AI) chips, on the 31st (local time). This is the first time Huang has met with President Trump since the launch of the 'Trump II' administration. Huang did not attend the president's inauguration and headed to China.
This meeting drew attention with the review of additional restrictions on semiconductor exports to China by President Trump coinciding with the Chinese AI startup 'DeepSeek Shock.' Trump and CEO Huang are reported to have discussed strengthening export controls on AI chips during this meeting. However, according to Reuters and others, this meeting was scheduled before the DeepSeek Shock occurred.
President Trump, without mentioning specific details about the meeting, referred to CEO Huang as a 'gentleman.' He added, 'We don't know what will happen,' and noted, 'It was a good meeting.' NVIDIA stated, 'We are grateful for the opportunity to meet with President Trump to discuss semiconductor and AI policies,' and said, 'CEO Huang and the president discussed the importance of strengthening U.S. technology and AI leadership.'
Earlier, the AI model released by DeepSeek was developed at less than one-tenth the expense of the best U.S. model but is known to perform comparably, shocking the American tech sector. As a result, NVIDIA's stock price plummeted by 17% on the 27th. The next day, it rebounded by 9%, but the aftermath continues.
President Trump and CEO Huang are said to have discussed strengthening export controls regarding DeepSeek and AI chips. DeepSeek used the low-spec chip H800, which NVIDIA designated for export to China, to operate its AI model. The Trump administration is reported to be considering expanding the range of semiconductor exports to China to include low-spec chips like H20. Previously, the U.S. government had restricted the sale of H100 in 2022 and H800 in 2023 to China.