Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang joins Trump’s China trip after late invite

In short: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang joined President Donald Trump’s state visit to China after boarding Air Force One during a refueling stop in Alaska.

What happened

Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia, boarded Air Force One in Alaska on May 12, 2026. He joined President Donald Trump and a group of more than a dozen US business leaders heading to China for a state visit scheduled for May 13 to 15.

Reports said Huang was not on the White House’s initial list of executives for the trip. That earlier list included leaders from companies such as Tesla and Apple, plus several chip and biotech firms.

According to Reuters reporting cited by other outlets, Trump called Huang on May 12 after seeing news coverage that Huang had been left off the list. An Nvidia spokesperson confirmed Huang was attending “at the invitation of President Trump to support America and the administration’s goals.” A White House spokesman also said Huang’s schedule had changed, which allowed him to join.

The late addition came after public discussion about why Huang might have been excluded. Some earlier reporting suggested the White House wanted to avoid tough questions about Nvidia’s chip sales to China. Chips are the small parts inside computers that do the heavy lifting, like an engine in a car, and Nvidia’s chips are widely used for AI.

Why it matters

This trip is part of a larger effort to reset US China relations while the two countries disagree over technology trade. Nvidia sits near the center of that tension because rules on selling advanced chips to China can affect prices, supply, and how quickly AI products improve.

Source: NYTimes