Nvidia CEO to meet Trump amid plans to limit AI chip exports to China

United States President Donald Trump is set to meet with Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s chief executive officer (CEO), at the White House on Friday.

According to USA Today, Karoline Leavitt, White House spokeswoman, said Huang is scheduled to meet with Trump at 2:30pm (8:30pm Nigerian time).

The meeting comes amid reports that the Trump administration is considering new measures to restrict the export of artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China.

The proposed restrictions are aimed at limiting China’s access to advanced US technology, especially as the Asian country is seen to be catching up in AI development.

Reuters reported that Trump officials are discussing whether to impose tighter controls on Nvidia’s sales of the H20 chips, which were designed for the Chinese market.

The discussions, which are in the early stages, follow previous restrictions under the former Joe Biden administration, which had already limited the sale of Nvidia’s more powerful chips, such as the H100 and H800.

The Biden administration’s actions, along with a recent surge in competition from China’s DeepSeek, which recently became the most downloaded app on the Apple store, have raised concerns over the United States’ lead in the AI race.

Some US lawmakers, including Republican John Moolenaar and Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi, are also pushing for further export controls.

On January 29, Moolenaar called for stronger restrictions to protect the US technological edge.

Moolenaar added that the US must stop Chinese Communist Party-backed companies like DeepSeek from leveraging American technology to advance their AI ambitions, warning it could threaten national security.