“We talked in general about export controls, and I wished him a happy holidays,” Huang said of his conversation with the president.
The company, whose chips are central to the AI boom, has often found itself caught between the U.S. and China as the two superpowers compete to dominate the technology.
Amid this AI race, lawmakers sought to include a provision in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would have required chipmakers to give U.S. companies first pick of chips before selling them to China or other foreign adversaries.
The Guaranteeing Access and Innovation for National Artificial Intelligence (GAIN AI) Act, which passed the Senate in October as part of the annual Defense bill, reportedly faced resistance from the Trump White House. It now appears unlikely to make it into the final version of the bill.
“I think that’s wise because the GAIN AI Act is even more detrimental to the United States than the AI diffusion act,” Huang said Wednesday.
He appeared to be referring to the Biden administration’s AI diffusion framework, which would have placed caps on chip sales to most countries around the world. The proposal was rescinded by the Trump administration in May.
Despite breaking with his predecessor on the diffusion rule, Trump initially appeared poised to continue expanding chip restrictions, placing new limitations on Nvidia’s H20 chips in April.
However, he reversed course this summer and agreed to allow H20 sales in exchange for a 15 percent cut of the revenue. Huang has since expressed hopes of selling Nvidia’s more advanced Blackwell chips to China, although the administration has so far taken the issue off the table.
It is reportedly considering allowing sales of the company’s H200 chips, though, provoking pushback from lawmakers.
In a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Wednesday, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Andy Kim (D-N.J.) voiced concerns that providing Beijing access to these chips “risks powering the PRC’s surveillance, censorship, and military applications.”
“I urge you to stop ignoring the input of bipartisan members of Congress and your own experts in order to cut deals that trade away America’s national security,” the duo wrote.
Check out the full report at TheHill.com.
