Trump Bans China And Other Countries From Getting Nvidia Blackwell's Latest AI Chip

JAKARTA - United States President Donald Trump stressed that Nvidia's most advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chip will only be available to US companies. In an interview on CBS's 60 Minutes program, Trump said his government would not allow other countries including China to access Blackwell series chips that are said to be the most powerful AI brains in the world today.

"The most sophisticated chip we will not give to anyone other than the United States," Trump said on the Air Force One plane on his return from Florida. "We don't give Blackwell chips to other parties."

This statement signifies the potential for a much stricter export policy than ever before. So far, Washington has limited the delivery of cutting-edge AI chips to China for fear the technology could strengthen military capabilities and accelerate Beijing's AI dominance.

Ironically, days before Trump's comments, Nvidia had just announced it would supply more than 260 thousand Blackwell chips to South Korea, including for tech giants like Samsung Electronics. The move shows that the US is still opening exports to its close allies "as long as it does not threaten Washington's strategic interests."

However, Trump has not completely closed the possibility of selling a downgrade' version of the Blackwell chip to China. He told CBS that Beijing may still be able to take care of Nvidia, but not in terms of the most advanced chips.

The statement immediately drew criticism from anti-Chinese politicians at the US Congress. The chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Chinese Affairs, John Moolenaar, likened the sale of high-tech chips to Beijing to "providing uranium to weapons levels to Iran."

Meanwhile, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, previously confirmed that his company has not applied for an export license to China because the Beijing government itself does not want Nvidia's presence for now. Even so, Huang admits that the Chinese market is important to finance Nvidia's research and development in the US.

If Trump's policies are in effect, the world of AI could face a new silicon outlet separating technological innovations between the West and the East, and making chips the hottest geopolitical weapon of the century.