U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he had recently met with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and suggested the tech leader understood his position on export restrictions. When asked about the conversation, Trump called Huang a “smart man” and indicated that Huang was already well aware of Trump’s stance on which chips could be sold to China.
Nvidia did not immediately comment when contacted by Reuters. The meeting occurred as the administration weighs whether to permit Nvidia to provide its H200 processors—an older generation compared to its top-tier models—to the Chinese market.
Huang was in Washington, D.C., speaking with lawmakers and reportedly told them, according to CNBC, that inconsistent regulations across U.S. states could slow advancements in artificial intelligence.
The company has also pushed back against a separate legislative proposal that would have required Nvidia to prioritize selling chips to U.S. customers before seeking approval to export them to “countries of concern.” Nvidia argued the measure would hinder America’s competitiveness in global AI development.
Later that day, at an event hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, where Nvidia is a corporate sponsor, Huang played down fears that large quantities of Nvidia’s advanced chips are being illegally moved into restricted markets. He noted the impracticality of such claims, pointing out that a data-center-grade AI GPU is massive and expensive—roughly two tons in weight, made up of about 1.5 million components, draws around 200,000 watts of power, and costs roughly $3 million. “Every so often people say these GPUs are being smuggled,” Huang remarked. “I’d really like to see how—especially if someone is supposedly moving enough of them to fill an entire football field.”


