Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, right, speaks alongside President Donald Trump about investing in America, at the White House in Washington, on April 30, 2025.
U.S. President Donald Trump has signaled that he'd be open to allowing Nvidia to sell a downgraded version of its most advanced artificial intelligence chip to China.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Trump said that he could make a deal with Nvidia if it could reduce the performance of its Blackwell system.
"It's possible I'd make a deal" on a "somewhat enhanced — in a negative way — Blackwell" processor, Trump said. "In other words, take 30% to 50% off of it."
Trump indicated that he will meet with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang regarding the Blackwell.
"On the Blackwell, I think he [Huang] is coming to see me again about that," Trump said, adding that the Blackwell system is the "latest and the greatest in the world."
Last month, Huang, who has lobbied Trump for access to the Chinese market after effectively being shut out, said he hopes to sell more advanced chips to China.
The flurry of activity around semiconductors comes after Nvidia and AMD agreed to a deal to pay the U.S. government a 15% cut of revenue from chip sales to China in exchange for export licenses. Trump said he initially asked for a 20% cut but that the number came down to 15% after Huang negotiated.
If the downgraded Blackwell chips were approved for export, it "would be a big deal going forward," said Paul Triolo, partner and senior vice president for China at advisory firm DGA-Albright Stonebridge Group.
"The idea here is to addict China to substandard, or non-cutting edge technology, Triolo added.