On July 23, according to CNBC, the relationship between American technology tycoons and President Trump has changed as the current situation changes. Now, the big star next to Trump is Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia.


Trump and Jen-Hsun Huang

Apple CEO Tim Cook was once one of the CEOs who knew how to deal with Trump best. During Trump's first term as president, Cook was like a diplomat, traveling between China and the United States, preventing the U.S. government from imposing tariffs on Apple products and developing business in China.

Market value and influence achieved double harvest

In Trump's second term, however, things are very different. Not only did Apple lose the title of the most valuable company in the United States to Nvidia, some technology experts also pointed out that Cook's political influence is far less than that of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who has a very charismatic leadership.

In May of this year, Trump said that he had a "small problem" with Cook. Trump opposes Apple building a factory in India and has threatened to impose tariffs on foreign-made iPhones.

"Because of Jen-Hsun Huang's success in the AI ​​revolution, he has become a global figure and assumed a new political role," said Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities. "The importance of Nvidia's AI chips makes him more influential than Cook."

Ives pointed out that Huang finds himself in a very good position to deal with the political landscape because there is only one company in the world whose chips are driving the AI ​​revolution, and that is Nvidia's chips.


Cook and Trump

Last week, Huang’s political influence reached unprecedented heights. During his visit to China, he announced that H20 sales in China would soon be resumed. According to a previous report by the New York Times, Huang Renxun's private lobbying of Trump allowed Nvidia's chips to be sold again in China.

"This is a historic win for Nvidia and Jen-Hsun Huang...I think it shows Jen-Hsun Huang's growing political influence in the Trump administration," Ives said. Huang Jen-Hsun met with Trump in Washington on the eve of his visit to China.

Although the lifting of H20 chip export controls this time is considered to be related to Sino-US trade negotiations, many experts told CNBC that Huang Renxun’s lobbying played an important role. Huang Renxun believes that the global AI model should be built on the US technology system, so chip exports should not be restricted.

It's unclear when Nvidia will restart the production line of H20 chips, but Paul Triolo, senior vice president of China and technology policy at consulting firm DGA-Albright Stonebridge Group, said that even just selling existing inventory will bring Nvidia a "significant revenue boost and help maintain its good reputation with Chinese customers." Nvidia announced in May that it would take a $4.5 billion inventory impairment on unsold H20.

Musk can’t do it either.

During the U.S. election last year, Musk contributed money and effort to help Trump win the White House again. Subsequently, Musk naturally became a popular figure around Trump and entered the political field, leading the "Government Efficiency Department" to slash U.S. government spending.

Musk and Trump once had a sweet "honeymoon period." When Tesla faced protests over Musk's involvement in politics, Trump supported Musk and bought a red Model S to show his support.


Musk and Trump

However, it didn't take long for the relationship between the two to break down because of the "Big and Beautiful Act" that Trump pushed hard. The bill eliminates the electric vehicle tax credit. Musk publicly criticized the move, calling it “disgusting.” Trump angrily called Musk "crazy" and threatened to cancel his government subsidies.

Reuters reported on Tuesday that the Trump administration is seeking to reduce its reliance on Musk's SpaceX and that the U.S. "Golden Dome" missile defense system is looking for new partners, including Amazon's satellite project "Project Kuiper."

Jen-Hsun Huang’s Risks

Triolo said that although Huang Renxun is currently "quite skillfully balancing the relationship between the U.S. government and the Chinese market" and "Trump seems to be a big fan of him," it is still unclear exactly where the U.S. government will draw the line on chip restrictions.

"Regulation regulations have changed many times, forcing companies to carry out costly redesigns and re-planning of production capacity layout." Triolo said.

Other experts say that despite Huang's growing influence in the tech world and the Trump administration, there's no guarantee this will continue.

"Currently, NVIDIA has changed from the main target of chip control to the main influencer of policy. The question is, how long can this situation last?" said Reva Goujon, director of Rhodium Group.

The United States is also currently conducting an investigation into the semiconductor industry. This investigation may lead to the United States imposing tariffs on the entire semiconductor industry, once again putting the Trump administration's policies into conflict with Nvidia's business interests. Although Nvidia is moving more manufacturing back to the United States, most of its production capacity is still in Taiwan.

Cook’s experience may teach Huang Jen-Hsun a lesson: When a large technology company regards both China and the United States as key markets, operations can become quite tricky.