Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Tesla boss Elon Musk travelled Tuesday with Donald Trump on Air Force One to Beijing for the US president’s much anticipated talks with China’s leader.
The world’s two largest economies are racing to dominate the global AI market, which relies on high-performance chips.
Chinese tech firms are barred from purchasing California-based Nvidia’s most cutting-edge AI chips, under US export rules that Washington says are to protect national security.
CEO Huang boarded Air Force One during a refuelling stop in Anchorage, Alaska, pool reporters saw Tuesday.
He was not originally on the list of CEOs travelling with Trump released by the White House earlier this week.
Trump wrote on social media Tuesday that “it is an Honor to have Jensen” and other business CEOs accompanying him to China.
“I will be asking President Xi, a Leader of extraordinary distinction, to ‘open up’ China so that these brilliant people can work their magic, and help bring the People’s Republic to an even higher level!” he said.
Huang is “attending the summit at the invitation of President Trump to support America and the administration’s goals,” an Nvidia spokesperson told AFP.
The Taiwan-born businessman has advocated for the use of his company’s chips in China, where Beijing has been accelerating development of its own semiconductors.
Huang said in March that the company had restarted production of high-end H200 chips destined for China after Washington softened export restrictions.
The H200 chip had until recently been barred from sale in China by Washington over national security concerns.
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