Trump Says China, Other Countries Can’t Have Nvidia’s top AI Chips

The AI giant Nvidia’s advanced chips that help create AI software will now be reserved for US only, while China and other countries won’t be able to get any of those, said US President Donald Trump. 

Trump said in a taped interview that aired on Sunday on the CBS “60 Minutes” program that only US customers should have access to the top-end Blackwell chips made by Nvidia. 

“The most advanced, we will not let anybody have them other than the United States,” he told CBS. Trump also made similar remarks when he was returning to Washington from Florida by saying. “We don’t give (the Blackwell) chip to other people.”

The remarks clearly indicate the restrictions on American AI chips to be supplied to China and potentially all the other countries of the world, so that none except America has access to the most sophisticated semiconductors. 

In July, the Trump administration released a new blueprint around AI, talking about loosening environmental rules and vastly expanding AI exports to allies. The focus of this blueprint was to maintain America’s edge over China in the AI race. 

Also Read: I Built this ‘AI aunt’ For Women After a Family Tragedy in South Africa

Last Friday, Nvidia shared that it would be supplying more than 260,000 Blackwell AI chips to South Korea and many other countries. 

Now the question also arises about whether Trump would permit the shipments of a scaled-down version of Blackwell chips to China since he suggested he might allow such sales in August. 

Trump also told CBS that he would not allow the sale of the most advanced Blackwells to Chinese companies; however, he did not restrict them from using the less capable version of these chips. “We will let them deal with Nvidia but not in terms of the most advanced,” he said during the “60 Minutes” interview.

However, the possibility that any version of Blackwell will be supplied to China has drawn criticism from the China hawks in Washington, with a concern that this American technology would contribute to the military power of China and would also give them an edge in the AI race. 

Republican Congressman John Moolenaar, the person who chairs the House Select Committee on China, said that such a decision “would be akin to giving Iran weapons-grade uranium.”

Trump previously hinted that he would be discussing chips with Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of their summit in South Korea last week. However, it seems like the topic didn’t even come up in the summit. 

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, said last week, “Nvidia has not sought U.S. export licenses for the Chinese market because of Beijing’s stance on the company”.  “They’ve made it very clear that they don’t want Nvidia to be there right now,” he said during the developers’ event, adding that the company would need access to China to fund US-based research and development.