Story
September 16, 2026
Jensen Huang’s Xi Dinner Invite Shows Nvidia Moving Closer to Trump
The White House casts the guest list as an effort to bring American business leaders into dealmaking with China, while critics see Huang’s growing proximity to Trump as a calculated bid for influence over the rules governing AI and data centers.
Earlier this year, Jensen Huang was among a select group of chief executives who travelled to China with President Donald Trump, a sign that Nvidia’s chief was already becoming part of the administration’s corporate orbit.1
That relationship became more public this week. Trump called Huang while the Nvidia chief was onstage at the All-In Summit, in a moment circulated by David Sacks as “amazing.” The clip also highlighted a shared dismissal of AI alarmism: Trump called it “all a hoax” and said his administration would not let it derail progress.
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Now the connection is set to move into a far more consequential room. Huang is expected to attend Trump’s state dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington next week, according to a person familiar with the private guest list. AI is expected to be a central subject when the two leaders meet.1
The White House’s framing is straightforwardly transactional. Trump has invited “several great American business leaders,” an official said, because he will “always prioritize making good deals for our country.”1 For Nvidia, whose advanced chips sit at the center of the US-China technology contest, that access could hardly be more strategically timed.
But the optics have prompted a sharper reading. The Verge noted Huang’s recent calls with Trump and his expected dinner appearance, asking whether he is becoming “pretty nervous about AI and data center regulation.”3 The contrast is stark: the administration portrays corporate participation as national dealmaking; skeptics see a powerful AI company securing a seat near the people writing the rules.