During an AI-themed summit in Washington on Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump said that he previously considered splitting up Nvidia Corp. to create more competition in the artificial intelligence chip market—before he recognized the task it would be.
"I said, 'Break up this guy,' before I knew the facts here," Trump said, adding that after discussing the matter with his advisors, he was told it would be "very hard" to break up Nvidia's dominance. He added that the company's commanding lead over competitors would take years to catch up.
"I thought we could go in and we could kind of break them up a little bit, give them a little competition, and I discovered it's not so easy in that business," Trump stated.
Nvidia has yet to make a comment on the president's remarks.
Trump also complimented Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who gave a thumbs-up in the audience. Trump and Huang had already met at the White House this month, according to reports. Last week, Nvidia also gained approval to continue selling its H20 AI chips to China—a step in line with a wider relaxation of Washington-Beijing trade tensions. The chips were previously banned from export under Trump policies.
“What a job you’ve done,” Trump said, offering personal accolades to Huang. Throughout his remarks, the president continued to commend Huang and other prominent tech figures for their commitment to investing in the United States.
Earlier that same day, Huang had taken the stage to endorse the president’s AI policies. “America’s unique advantage that no other country can possibly have is President Trump,” Huang remarked.
Nvidia has experienced tremendous growth in recent years, emerging as the first company to hit the $4 trillion market valuation barrier. The growth of the company has been driven by skyrocketing demand for AI chips that drive sophisticated language models and other forms of artificial intelligence.
At the same time, the U.S. Justice Department opened an investigation in 2024 into possible antitrust issues surrounding Nvidia's business practices.
During the summit, President Trump also unveiled his administration's AI Action Plan. The plan, together with a new series of executive orders, is geared towards backing the sector by alleviating regulatory burdens on tech innovators.
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