Trump says Nvidia’s Blackwell AI chip not for ‘other people’
The possibility that Blackwell chips might be sold to Chinese firms has drawn criticism from China hawks in Washington
Nvidia’s advanced Blackwell chip for artificial intelligence would not be available to “other people,” US President Donald Trump said Sunday.
Nvidia, the world’s most valuable company, dominates the market for AI chips.
Questions have swirled about whether Trump would allow shipments of a version of the Blackwell to China since August, when he suggested he might allow sales of a scaled-down version of Nvidia’s next-generation advanced GPU chip in China.
However, Trump’s remarks to reporters aboard Air Force One suggest his administration may not be inclined to grant broad overseas access to the prized chip.
“The new Blackwell that just came out, it’s 10 years ahead of every other chip,” Trump said as he flew to Washington after a weekend in Florida. “But no, we don’t give that chip to other people,” he added.
The possibility that Blackwell chips might be sold to Chinese firms has drawn criticism from China hawks in Washington, who fear the technology would supercharge China’s military capabilities and accelerate its AI development. Republican Congressman John Moolenaar, who chairs the House Select Committee on China, said such a move “would be akin (to) giving Iran weapons-grade uranium”.