Closeness rivaling Musk's — relationship deepened rapidly in Trump's second term

Nvidia wins chip export relief; Huang receives National Medal of Science

President Donald Trump speaks alongside Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang during a meeting with technology executives at the East Room of the White House in Washington on Sept. 29 (local time). [AFP]
President Donald Trump speaks alongside Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang during a meeting with technology executives at the East Room of the White House in Washington on Sept. 29 (local time). [AFP]

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The abrupt ouster of Jensen Huang as Nvidia CEO on Thursday (local time) has turned a spotlight on his unusually close relationship with President Donald Trump.

CNN said that day that "few people in Silicon Valley have a closer relationship with President Trump than" Huang. Trump, a real estate mogul who has long prized ties with business leaders, has cultivated a bond with Huang that goes well beyond the ordinary. Among the heads of major US technology companies, only Elon Musk is considered closer to Trump, according to Washington insiders.

Huang had become a regular presence at the White House, occasionally riding Air Force One, and was a frequent guest at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

Huang was seated at the head table whenever the White House held a state dinner for a visiting foreign leader. At the state dinner marking Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Washington on Sept. 24, Huang and a spouse were placed at the same table as Trump and Xi and their respective partners.

Huang and Trump were also in frequent phone contact. One person who attended meetings with Trump said they witnessed Huang's name appear on Trump's phone screen, and CNN reported that Trump once called Huang while Huang was on stage at a conference.

Some analysts say Huang was the single biggest influence on Trump's decision to dismiss warnings that rapid AI development could threaten humanity and instead throw his weight behind accelerating the technology rather than regulating it.

The friendship appears to have deepened sharply since Trump returned to office for a second term — and analysts describe it as a mutually beneficial, transactional relationship.

Huang attended a $1 million dinner held at Mar-a-Lago early last year.

Nvidia contributed several million dollars toward Trump's inauguration in January last year and donated $25 million to the White House banquet hall project Trump has championed, making the company one of its largest donors.

That cultivation of Trump appears to have paid off handsomely for Nvidia. Most notably, the Trump administration reversed plans to restrict exports of high-performance Nvidia chips — including the H200 — to China.

Trump also took care to include Huang in key meetings on AI and other issues. Before flying to Beijing for a summit with Xi last May, Trump arranged for Huang to board Air Force One at a stopover in Alaska.

That trip has since become the center of controversy: Trump is said to have been briefed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio before Huang boarded that Huang was allegedly having an affair with a woman suspected of being a Chinese spy — yet Trump approved Huang's participation in the China visit anyway.

Last month, Trump awarded Huang the National Medal of Science and Technology, the nation's highest honor in those fields.


yckim6452@heraldcorp.com