Trump Brings Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to Beijing Summit With Xi Jinping

President Donald Trump arrived in Beijing for a summit with Xi Jinping with a large corporate delegation that included Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, after Trump dismissed reports of a snub as 'FAKE NEWS' on Tuesday evening.

“Put together, the group aboard Air Force One had a combined net worth of well more than a trillion dollars”

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Trump wrote on Truth Social that Huang was 'currently on Air Force One' and said he would be 'asking President Xi, a Leader of extraordinary distinction, to "open up" China so that these brilliant people can work their magic.'

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Reuters reported that Huang's 'schedule had changed' and that it had 'worked out for him to attend,' while Bloomberg separately confirmed that 'the list of attendees until Tuesday had not included Huang.'

Huang, whose net worth Forbes estimates at roughly $180 billion (£142 billion), flew from California to Alaska to board Air Force One during a refuelling stop at Ted Stevens Airport in Anchorage, and was later photographed stepping off the aircraft in Beijing alongside Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Apple CEO Tim Cook.

The delegation accompanying Trump was described as including Elon Musk and Tim Cook alongside Huang, with 17 American business executives cited by the South China Morning Post as the wealthiest such delegation to visit China and holding a combined personal net worth of over US$1 trillion.

In a Truth Social post, Trump lashed reporting from CNBC that stated Huang had not been invited, writing, "In actuality, Jensen is currently on Air Force One and, unless I ask him to leave, which is highly unlikely, CNBC's reporting is incorrect or, as they say in politics, FAKE NEWS!"

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The South China Morning Post said Huang ranks second with a personal net worth of US$194 billion and that Nvidia has had to navigate US export restrictions on hi-tech products sold in the Chinese market.

The same report said that while Washington permits the sale of Nvidia’s H200 graphics processing units in China—subject to a 25 per cent surcharge paid to the US Treasury—it has banned the sale of the company’s more advanced models to Chinese customers.

The summit agenda described in the sources centers on trade and technology, with the International Business Times UK saying the summit with Xi, running 14-15 May, is expected to cover trade, Iran, Taiwan, and AI chip exports.

“Trump brought an unprecedented delegation to Chinese territory, with Elon Musk and the CEO of Nvidia, Jensen Huang, aboard Air Force One”

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The same source said whether Huang's seat aboard the presidential aircraft translates into any loosening of semiconductor restrictions remains to be seen, while it noted Nvidia's most advanced H200 processors remain blocked from entering China.

The Reuters reporting framed the visit as a bid by US CEOs for China business gains from the Trump-Xi summit, tying the delegation’s presence to the push for access amid strained bilateral ties.

In parallel, the South China Morning Post said Huang was seeking a licence to sell robotaxis in China and also wanted to increase sales of his artificial intelligence robots in the country, while noting the export-restriction environment shaping Nvidia’s position.