Nvidia (NVDA, Financials) Chief Executive Jensen Huang met with Chinese officials in Beijing this week, just a day after the U.S. government launched an investigation into the company's chip sales.
Huang visited the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade and Vice Premier He Lifeng, according to Chinese state media. During the meetings, he said U.S. restrictions had hit Nvidia's business hard but promised the company would keep making products that comply with U.S. rules while serving the Chinese market.
The visit came during a rocky stretch for Nvidia's relations with Washington. Earlier in the week, the company announced a $500 billion investment in U.S. artificial intelligence infrastructure, a move praised by President Donald J. Trump's administration as the "Trump Effect."
The next day, Nvidia said it would need a license to sell more chips to China — a change that could wipe $5.5 billion off its planned sales. The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party also opened an investigation into whether Nvidia skirted export rules, particularly in sales to Chinese AI startup DeepSeek.
Shares of Nvidia fell 6% Wednesday after news of the probe.
Nvidia has faced mounting pressure since 2022, when former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. imposed tighter rules on advanced chip exports. The company responded by releasing a weaker chip, the H20, tailored for the Chinese market.
China still brought in $17 billion of Nvidia's $130 billion global revenue last year, though it was the company's smallest China revenue share in over a decade, according to Bernstein Research.
Amid the restrictions, Chinese tech firms rushed to stockpile Nvidia chips, sometimes through black market channels.
Earlier this year, Huang met President Trump at a $1 million-per-seat dinner in Mar-a-Lago.
