TMTPOST -- Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, has been "on the road" celebrating the Lunar New Year with employees and their families in China from January 15 to 21. During his visit, Huang attended multiple Nvidia events across various cities, from Shenzhen to Taipei and Beijing, and concluded the week in Shanghai.
On January 15, Huang arrived in Shenzhen for the annual meeting of Nvidia’s branch there. The next day, he attended a supply chain event in Taichung, Taiwan, where he hosted a dinner for 35 CEOs, with a table cost of approximately 1,182 yuan each.
On January 19, he met with developers, partners, and analysts in Beijing, followed by participation in the Beijing branch's annual meeting on January 20. His final stop was in Shanghai on January 21.
By January 22, Huang was already on his private jet, leaving China for Osaka, Japan. Throughout the week, images of Huang enjoying robotics demonstrations, interacting with foldable screens, and even performing on stage with Nvidia employees spread widely on social media.
Meanwhile, in the United States, January 20 marked a significant political event—the inauguration of President Donald Trump for his second term. The event was attended by many prominent tech figures, including Tesla’s Elon Musk, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Apple’s Tim Cook, Google’s Sundar Pichai, and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos. However, Huang, the self-made billionaire dubbed the "Godfather of AI" with a net worth of $118.7 billion, bucked the trend and chose not to attend ceremony.
Despite the ongoing AI and semiconductor rivalry between China and the United States, Huang continued his business-focused approach, reinforcing Nvidia's commitment to cooperating with China. “I won’t attend the inauguration, but I'll look forward to congratulating the Trump administration when they take office,” Huang said during his trip to China, noting that Nvidia aims to continue working with Chinese partners.
Huang’s absence from the inauguration isn’t surprising to those familiar with his business philosophy. As the CEO of Nvidia, Huang views himself as a businessman, dedicated solely to the success of his company and the management of its ecosystem partners. Unlike other major American tech leaders such as Musk and Cook, Huang rarely engages in government-level meetings, whether in China or the United States. Even during his record-breaking week in China, Huang did not meet with any government officials, underscoring his desire to keep his focus firmly on business and innovation.
In his book The Nvidia Way, Huang outlined his business philosophy of “rough fairness”—believing that collaborations and partnerships can be uneven at times but ultimately should result in balanced outcomes over the long run. His goal is not political, but to ensure that AI technology reaches its full potential and is accessible to all.
However, Huang’s company finds itself caught in the middle of the escalating geopolitical tension. The Biden administration has ramped up export controls on advanced AI chips, which have directly impacted Nvidia. Just days before Huang’s China trip, on January 13 and 15, the U.S. Department of Commerce implemented new export control rules that restrict the sale of certain AI chips, including Nvidia’s A100, A800, H100, and others, to China.
Nvidia responded to the new regulations by informing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and preparing for potential disruptions. The company will continue to navigate these regulatory hurdles while maintaining its role as a leading player in the global AI space. To meet China’s demand, Nvidia is preparing a special “RTX 50D” version of its RTX 50 series GPUs, which will feature limitations on AI computing power, preventing any attempts to use them for AI model training.
Despite these restrictions, demand for Nvidia’s products in China remains strong, with major Chinese firms like ByteDance and Tencent continuing to place large orders for Nvidia’s GPUs. This reflects Huang’s belief that business and technology should transcend geopolitical conflicts, as evidenced by his continuous efforts to support both the U.S. and Chinese markets.
As Huang navigates these complex global dynamics, his unwavering focus on Nvidia’s success and AI leadership continues to drive the company forward. With its valuation skyrocketing, Nvidia is poised to remain a dominant force in the AI, semiconductor, and robotics industries, even as competition from both traditional rivals and new Chinese challengers intensifies.
