Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), CEO of artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant Nvidia Corp, met on Friday with US President Donald Trump as the company suffered a rough week on Wall Street over competition with China and the threat of tariffs on semiconductors.
Trump said he would put tariffs on imports of computer chips to the US, which would punish Nvidia’s business that depends on imported components, mainly from Taiwan.
“It was a good meeting, but eventually we’re going to put tariffs on chips,” Trump told reporters afterward.
Photo: AFP
High-end versions of Nvidia’s chips face US export restrictions to the major market of China, part of Washington’s efforts to slow its Asian adversary’s advancement in the strategic technology.
That policy came under scrutiny this week when Chinese start-up DeepSeek achieved widespread adoption of its latest AI model that was developed without access to Nvidia’s export-blocked H100 chips.
After the DeepSeek breakthrough, US media reported the Trump administration was exploring ways to expand the restrictions to Nvidia’s lower-end chips.
The DeepSeek model triggered a plunge in Nvidia’s stock on Monday, wiping out nearly US$600 billion in market value — Wall Street’s largest single-day loss ever.
“We appreciated the opportunity to meet with President Trump and discuss semiconductors and AI policy,” an Nvidia spokesperson said. “Jensen and the president discussed the importance of strengthening US technology and AI leadership.”
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