Nvidia Shares Hit Record as CEO Bets on China Comeback

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said he is «hopeful» the company can re-enter China, as U.S. President Donald Trump signalled he would discuss Nvidia’s state-of-the-art Blackwell AI chips with Chinese President Xi Jinping this week.

Speaking on the sidelines of Nvidia’s GTC in Washington, Huang said he had «100 per cent confidence» in Trump’s ability to strike a deal. He noted Nvidia’s China market share had slid from about 95% to zero under U.S. export curbs and a domestic downturn, adding that the company’s base case now excludes China — but any reversal would be «a huge bonus.»

Anticipation of renewed China sales lifted Nvidia’s stock more than 3% pre-market and nearly 5% at the close to a record $201.03, putting the chipmaker on track toward a roughly $5 trillion valuation.

Nvidia’s most advanced processors have been subject to US export controls since the Biden administration. Photo: AFP

Trump, who meets Xi in Busan on Thursday ahead of the APEC summit, told reporters he would raise Nvidia’s «super-duper» Blackwell chips, which have been barred from China under U.S. restrictions. Controls introduced under the Biden administration and later expanded to cover the China-specific H20 have shut Nvidia out of the market. Washington has reportedly weighed resuming approvals in exchange for 15% of Nvidia’s China revenue, while Beijing is pushing domestic alternatives and urging state firms to avoid Nvidia.

At GTC, Huang said Nvidia has shipped six mln Blackwell GPUs and expects a combined $500Bn in sales from Blackwell and next year’s Rubin chips, excluding Asia — about five times the revenue of the prior Hopper generation. He also unveiled partnerships including a $1Bn Nokia investment for 6G, a robotaxi deal with Uber, humanoid robots at Foxconn’s Texas AI-server plant, and a U.S. Department of Energy project to build AI supercomputers with over 100K Blackwell GPUs to bolster U.S. leadership in AI.