GoKawiilJensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, arrives at a Korean barbecue restaurant for a dinner meeting with SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo, and Naver Chairman Lee Hae-jin in Seoul, South Korea, on June 5, 2026.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told shareholders on Wednesday that if a commercial opportunity conflicts with U.S. national security, the company would prioritize American interests.
"National security comes first," Huang said in a session shortly after the company's annual stockholder meeting concluded.
He added that if a company wanted to smuggle Nvidia's chips or systems into countries with export restrictions — such as China — they would have challenges getting it working because Nvidia wouldn't provide support or repairs.
"Advanced AI data centers are massive integrated systems that require trusted hardware, software, networking, and continuing support," Huang said. "Trying to cobble together data centers with some smuggled products is a dead end."
Huang's remarks come as Washington regulators and the Trump administration are increasingly wary that exporting AI software and hardware to China and other nations is a threat to national security.
Earlier this month, Anthropic, which uses Nvidia chips, shut down Fable 5 and Mythos 5 after the U.S. government ordered it to disable access to its most advanced models.
Nvidia's chips have had export controls placed on them since 2022, which forced the company to produce China-specific chips for the region that complied with U.S. government benchmarks. But last year, the U.S. cleared the company's H200 chip — the same model used by U.S. companies — for export to the region.