On the evening of May 12, US media confirmed that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang had boarded the US presidential plane Air Force One and would travel to China with US President Trump. This move was in sharp contrast to previous reports by many media that he would not accompany the trip. The previous accompanying list has been confirmed to include Elon Musk (X, xAI, SpaceX, Tesla), Apple CEO Tim Cook, as well as executives from many large American companies such as Qualcomm, Citigroup, Boeing, Goldman Sachs, Blackstone, BlackRock, Micron, and Meta.
According to on-site pictures and information posted on the social platform The footage shows Huang Jen-Hsun, wearing his signature leather jacket and carrying a backpack, stepping onto the gangway, arousing widespread attention in the technology and political circles.
Trump's visit to China will be held from May 13 to May 15. This is the first time in the past decade that a US president has visited China and met with Chinese President Xi Jinping, so it is regarded as a landmark diplomatic action. Under the current international situation, this meeting not only has political symbolic significance, but is also widely regarded as an important window for China and the United States to resume high-level dialogue in the fields of science and technology, economy and trade.
According to reports, the accompanying lineup is mainly composed of leading figures in the technology and financial industries. Executives of various companies are expected to hold a series of closed-door meetings with representatives of Chinese companies and relevant departments during the visit. Although the specific agenda has not yet been announced, it is widely expected that cooperation and competition in technological fields such as artificial intelligence, high-end chips, cloud computing, and data centers will become one of the core topics in the closed-door consultations. At the same time, the game around issues such as tariffs, export controls, and market access will also continue throughout.
Emily Gooding previously quoted sources from the White House as saying that Trump is expected to advance a number of commercial agreements with China during this visit, and accompanying corporate executives may sign cooperation or investment frameworks in their respective fields with large Chinese technology and industrial groups. After experiencing a round of widespread tariff increases and a "climax" of trade friction last year, the U.S. government has recently begun to release certain "cooling down" signals on tariffs and some technical restrictions on China. China and the United States are also exploring "crossing the river by feeling the stones" through progressive negotiations in the fields of science and technology and economy and trade.
In terms of China policy, Nvidia has been emphasizing the "America First" line in recent years, and currently has almost no effective share of official channels in the Chinese artificial intelligence market. The company is betting heavily on the "U.S. manufacturing" strategy, expanding local production capacity through cooperation with companies such as Corning, and is widely believed to reach more foundry cooperation with Intel to produce the next generation of Feynman GPUs in the United States. At the same time, it will prioritize the supply of next-generation GPU production capacity such as Rubin and Blackwell to local AI companies and data centers in the United States.
In the past year, the U.S. government has launched a global "tariff war" offensive, imposing high tariffs on goods from many countries, including China. The measures targeting the high-tech and semiconductor industries are particularly eye-catching. As policies begin to shift from extreme toughness to slightly easing, the meeting between Trump and Xi Jinping is seen as a key test for the two sides to try to resume dialogue on technology and trade issues, but still maintain a cautious attitude. China and the United States are more likely to adopt a "step-by-step, small-scale" approach to promote cooperation rather than throw out a huge comprehensive agreement at once.
From a symbolic point of view, Huang Jensen finally chose to board the plane midway in Alaska and appeared on Air Force One with technology leaders such as Musk and Cook. This means that at the critical moment when the United States is adjusting its relations with China, several technology giants who hope to have a say in the global AI and chip industries will still personally participate in this round of geopolitical and industrial layout rebalancing. For the Chinese and American technology giants who are in the vortex of technological blockade, supply chain restructuring and market differentiation, this voyage will not only be a high-risk diplomatic show, but also a test for all parties to re-measure each other's bottom line and cooperation space.