U.S. President Donald Trump said Sunday that Nvidia’s advanced Blackwell chip for artificial intelligence would not be made available to “other people,” signaling his administration’s intent to restrict exports of the powerful processor, reports Reuters.
Nvidia, the world’s most valuable company, dominates the global market for AI chips. The company’s new Blackwell architecture represents its most advanced generation of graphics processing units (GPUs), capable of powering large-scale artificial intelligence models and data centers.
Speculation has grown since August over whether Trump would permit shipments of a scaled-down version of the Blackwell chip to China. At the time, he had hinted he might allow limited exports. But his latest comments to reporters aboard Air Force One suggest a tougher stance.
“The new Blackwell that just came out—it’s 10 years ahead of every other chip,” Trump said as he flew back to Washington after a weekend in Florida. “But no, we don’t give that chip to other people.”
The possibility of exporting Blackwell chips to Chinese firms has drawn strong criticism from China hawks in Washington, who argue the technology could bolster China’s military and AI capabilities.
Republican Congressman John Moolenaar, chair of the House Select Committee on China, warned that allowing such sales “would be akin to giving Iran weapons-grade uranium.”
Trump had previously indicated he might discuss the issue with Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of their recent summit in South Korea but later said the topic was not raised.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said last week that the company had not applied for U.S. export licenses to ship its most advanced chips to China, citing Beijing’s own restrictions.
“They’ve made it very clear that they don’t want Nvidia to be there right now,” Huang said at a developers’ conference, adding that continued access to the Chinese market was crucial to fund U.S.-based research and development.
Despite tightening controls, Nvidia announced Friday that it would supply more than 260,000 Blackwell AI chips to South Korea, including to major companies such as Samsung Electronics, underscoring the chip’s global demand.
Bd-pratidin English/ Jisan
