Trump Says That NVIDIA’s Advanced Blackwell Chips ‘Not for Other People’
U.S. President Donald Trump has declared that NVIDIA’s most advanced artificial intelligence chips will be reserved exclusively for domestic use, signalling a significant tightening of export controls aimed at China and potentially other nations.
In comments made Sunday, the president stated his administration’s policy would bar foreign access to the cutting-edge “Blackwell” series chips, which are considered the most powerful AI processors on the market.
“The new Blackwell that just came out, it’s 10 years ahead of every other chip,” President Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. “But no, we don’t give that chip to other people.”
In a separate, taped interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” that also aired Sunday, the president reiterated his position. “The most advanced, we will not let anybody have them other than the United States,” he said.
While specifically barring China from accessing the top-tier chips, Trump suggested that less powerful versions could still be an option for foreign markets. “We will let them deal with NVIDIA,” he said, referring to China, “but not in terms of the most advanced.”
The president’s definitive statements appear to end months of speculation over whether the administration would allow a “scaled-down” version of the Blackwell chip to be sold to China, a possibility Trump himself floated in August.
The remarks represent a hard-line stance that has been championed by China hawks in Washington, who feared that access to such technology would supercharge Beijing’s military and AI capabilities.
The new policy may also create friction with U.S. allies. The announcement comes just days after NVIDIA confirmed it would supply over 260,000 advanced Blackwell chips to South Korea, a key U.S. partner and home to tech giants like Samsung Electronics.
