Donald Trump and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang are working on AI policy and more. What does it mean for the rest of us?

The largest company in the world is Nvidia, and it has been making the same product since 1993: a special computer chip called a GPU, or graphics processor. These chips handle all the complicated calculations needed to display images, videos and 3D graphics on our screens.

Back in the day, if you wanted to play “state-of-the-art” PC games like Unreal, Quakeor Half-lifeYou probably bought one of Nvidia's GPUs (back then more commonly referred to as graphics cards).

“If you were a really serious gamer in 1998, you'd be building your own powerful PC at home. You'd be up to your eyeballs with circuit boards and soldering equipment,” said Robbie Wheland, a technology and business reporter for The Wall Street Journal Explained today Co-host Noel King. “And you would buy one of Nvidia's graphics cards and put it into your awesome high-performance gaming computer that you would play on the Internet.”

However, these days Nvidia's product is no longer a niche product. Their chips are more advanced and they are now the hardware powering the artificial intelligence boom. “Think ChatGPT, Gemini, NotebookLM or Claude,” Wheland said.

Since Nvidia is now essential to the technology sector, the company is very important to the well-being of the entire American economy. The stock market can swing about whether Nvidia releases a good or bad earnings report.

The company and its founder Jensen Huang have also become influential players in American politics, foreign relations and international diplomacy. Wheland explained the story behind the company's rise, its business relationships and the founder's friendship with President Donald Trump Explained today.

Below is an excerpt from their conversation, edited for length and clarity. There's a lot more in the full podcast, so listen Explained today Wherever you get podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, PandoraAnd Spotify.

Tell me about Jensen Huang, the man behind Nvidia.

Jensen Huang is co-founder and CEO of Nvidia. He was born in Taiwan, which has actually become the intellectual epicenter of the AI ​​boom. And he moved to the USA as a child.

Today, he is not only the CEO of the largest company on planet Earth, but also an incredibly influential and powerful person in foreign relations and international diplomacy. He is a very good friend of President Donald Trump. And I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that he's one of the most important people on Earth right now, given how much power and economic clout he has.

If you look back at Trump's inauguration and think about who was with him that day, many of them were technology CEOs, but Jensen Huang wasn't among them. Why wasn't he there?

For all I know, Donald Trump may not even have known who Jensen was in January.

He knew this was a technology CEO who had a very successful company. But when it came to his leadership style; his style of doing business; and, more importantly, what Jensen could do for President Trump by helping him negotiate international agreements. He has now become a show pony that Trump shows off to world leaders. He brags about how successful Huang is. He says this is truly an example of American ingenuity and innovation.

But I don't think any of this existed when Trump took office in January.

Tell me how this relationship develops and evolves.

I have to go by 2022; We are in the Biden administration. They took certain products, certain classes of products, which generally meant very powerful microchips, and said, “You can't sell these to certain companies overseas.” At that time, the AI ​​competition was really heating up. But Nvidia wasn't allowed to sell its chips, particularly in China, because there were serious concerns about national security and serious concerns about competition and the fact that China couldn't catch up with us.

This was a big deal for Nvidia because it really limited the speed at which the company could expand globally. Fast forward to this year: Donald Trump is back in the White House for a second term, and Jensen Huang obviously had to revisit this topic.

There were a number of influential people on Trump's National Security Council who successfully argued that selling our most advanced technology to the Chinese was a bad idea. And in this context, Jensen Huang begins to develop a friendship with Donald Trump because it would be very important for him to be friendly with a president, considering how this war of ideas broke out.

In August of this year he goes to Trump. He says, “What do I have to do to get you to allow me to sell this chip in China again?” And after much negotiation between Nvidia and the Trump administration, a deal is reached in which the White House asks Jensen to let the federal government share in its success by giving the government a stake in the company.

This is a big win for Jensen Huang. But there's a problem: The Chinese are telling all customers in their country: “Don't buy this thing. It's not safe. There are safety concerns.” So Nvidia starts developing a new chip for China. It's called B 30 A.

And that's too much. This is proving to be too much for people in Washington who care about national security and competition with China. And they've actually decided, unbeknownst to Jensen Huang, that they're not going to allow high-value chips to be sold in China.

And here we are. Nvidia is still banned from China.

You'll see Wong accompanying Trump on international trips and consulting with the president on high-profile issues. What's going on with these two guys behind the scenes?

There is a lot of speculation as to whether this is another Elon Musk-style situation. President Trump always likes to have a tech billionaire with whom he can consult and exchange ideas. One thing to know about Donald Trump, and I know this because I've spoken to him directly about it, is that he really likes people when they're successful.

He likes that there are successful people on his team. When Trump realized that this guy, Jensen Huang, was just a really successful, brilliant manager and was building something really special and big and powerful with Nvidia, Trump really picked up on that. It caught his attention and he decided that he really liked Jensen Huang. They talk on the phone often now. Trump will call Jensen Huang late at night and figure things out. Jensen is a frequent visitor to the White House, something he has never done before this year.

But last month he backed off his seemingly unwavering commitment to let Nvidia sell its products in China. I don't think it reflects any conflict between personalities. I think Jenssen has handled the relationship very well, and he is pledging his support to the most powerful president on planet Earth in the language that president likes to hear.

Does Jensen Huang want to work in government like Musk or does the guy just want to sell his chips in China and do what's best for his company?

I have no reason to believe he has such ambitions. I think Jensen Huang was pushed into this kind of role as an international diplomat and lobbyist and all these different roles that he had to play. They are very new to him.

I think his main concern is to do the best for his company and sell as many products as possible around the world. Additionally, he wants to get the whole world excited about his technology and make Nvidia a more important factor in the long-term picture of how technology and AI are evolving.