Nvidia says Jensen Huang has joined President Trump on his China trip; source: Trump called Huang to ask him to join after seeing media coverage of his absence

BEIJING — Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has joined U.S. President Donald Trump's trip to China, after initial indications the executive had not been invited.

CNBC 2026-05-13

Context & Ripple Effects

Coverage first framed Huang’s absence from the delegation as a potential setback for Nvidia, while earlier reporting tied his China visits and White House access to discussions over U.S. chip-export rules and sales licenses.

His subsequent inclusion puts Nvidia directly into a trip where commercial access to China and U.S. national-interest framing are both central to the company’s policy strategy.

First-order effects

Nvidia gains direct representation alongside President Trump in China, giving Huang a higher-profile channel to present the company’s interests during the visit.
The reversal from reported exclusion reduces the immediate signal that Nvidia had been sidelined in U.S.-China technology discussions.

Second-order effects

Nvidia’s access raises the stakes for other chipmakers seeking favorable treatment under export controls: executive relationships and policy alignment become more visibly consequential.
Chinese customers and partners receive a signal that Nvidia remains actively engaged in preserving or expanding permitted business, though any change still depends on U.S. policy decisions.

Third-order effects

If such executive diplomacy continues to shape licensing and export outcomes, advanced-chip market access may increasingly be negotiated through company-specific arrangements rather than broad, stable rules.
That would deepen the strategic entanglement of leading AI-chip suppliers with government policy, while leaving customers exposed to abrupt shifts in political access and export-control posture.

The trend: This is another data point in the convergence of AI-chip competition, export controls, and CEO-level diplomacy as companies seek to protect access to China.

Discussion

@elonmusk Elon Musk on x
On my way to Beijing in Air Force One
@katiadoyl Katherine Doyle on x
Spotted traveling with President Trump to China, per pool: Nvidia CEO Jenson Huang on the tarmac in Alaska. He is joining the second leg of the flight. Huang was not among the CEO's initially listed as traveling with the delegation. @StevenCheung47 says Huang was a late add.
@josh_wingrove Josh Wingrove on x
(Bloomberg) — Nvidia Corp. CEO Jensen Huang will join US President Donald Trump on his visit to China as a last-minute addition to the trip, and was seen boarding Air Force One on a stopover in Alaska, per @jeffmason1.
@annmarie Annmarie Hordern on x
Jensen Huang is now joining President Trump on his trip to China, according to the White House. The Nvidia CEO boarded Air Force One in Alaska during a refueling stop.
@mirandanazzaro Miranda Nazzaro on x
Despite previously not being on the list biz execs going to China w/ Trump, Nvidia spox tells me Jensen Huang IS attending summit now. Says its “at the invitation of President Trump.” A source familiar said POTUS called Jensen today to invite him.
@stevehou Steve Hou on x
Last minute China trip. [image]
@osint613 @osint613 on x
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang will join U.S. President Donald Trump on his visit to China as a last-minute addition to the trip, and was seen boarding Air Force One during a stop in Alaska, Bloomberg and New York Post reports. Photos taken by @Emilylgoodin. [image]
r/StockMarket r on reddit
Nvidia says CEO Jensen Huang is joining Trump's China trip
r/wallstreetbets r on reddit
Jensen Huang is joining China trip after Trump called the Nvidia CEO: Source
@elonmusk Elon Musk on x
@zerohedge Just Jensen and I are on AF1
@zerohedge @zerohedge on x
That's like $20 trillion worth of CEOs on AF1 [image]
@rnaudbertrand Arnaud Bertrand on x
Pretty hilarious of him to say that he's going to China with Jensen Huang to ask them to “open up,” when the whole issue is that it's the U.S. that banned the sale of advanced Nvidia chips... You can't ask China to reverse your own policies 🤷‍♂️ [image]
@dipwheeler Dip Wheeler on x
the boys hit beijing. [image]
@annmarie Annmarie Hordern on x
Spotted on the red carpet behind President Trump as he arrives in Beijing— Elon Musk and Jensen Huang [image]
@kristinaparts Kristina Partsinevelos on x
Trump is pushing back on reports that Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang wasn't originally invited to China. But Huang himself told CNBC on May 7: “If invited, it would be a privilege.” Nvidia's team also confirmed to me he had not received an invite until POTUS called him yesterday.
@ryanfedasiuk Ryan Fedasiuk on x
Thanks to @DominoTheoryMag's Stella Robertson for the chance to comment on the inclusion of Jensen Huang in President Trump's trip to China: Xi will likely urge Trump to relax U.S. chip export controls when the two meet. “Though China's national security system is wary of
@firstadopter Tae Kim on x
Jensen traveling with a backpack is a funny visual [image]
@gordocda Gordo on x
Interesting last-minute addition...
@bscholl Blake Scholl on x
TIL the current Air Force One doesn't have the range to fly DC to Beijing nonstop.
@the_ai_investor @the_ai_investor on x
Jensen was like: sh$t, i thought i can just stay home to work on Vera Rubin. We are going to need a lot of compute and memory, why I am even traveling for this? Well maybe Jensen can drop by Korea to book some more HBM/DRAM from Samsung/SK Hynix. [image]
@wholemars @wholemars on x
Boys trip
@jimcramer Jim Cramer on x
Thrilled that Nvidia's Jensen Huang is going with the President to China. The only way to stay ahead of the Chinese—of which we are—is to have Nvidia to be the dominant choice worldwide...
@laraleatrump Lara Trump on x
Team CHYYYYYNA 🇨🇳🇺🇸 [image]
@gonglei89 Lei Gong on x
Trump likely wants to use a spectacle to surprise Xi into going off script and initiate some kind of unplanned grand bargain. This is a very typical real estate salesman move. Unfortunately he and his camp have a tendency to play too clever against their own mental projections.
@liqian_ren Liqian Ren on x
Why so many financial firms with little/<5% revenue share from mainland (Goldman, visa, Blackrock, blackstone, Citigroup etc) are going with Pres Trump?
NewsMax.com Jim Mishler on x
Coates to Newsmax: Tech CEOs Help Trump Showcase Economy to China

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