US President Donald Trump said most of the advanced chips from artificial intelligence giant Nvidia will be reserved for American companies and kept out of China and other countries, Reuters quoted him as saying.
During a recorded interview aired on Sunday on the show "60 Minutes" on CBS, and in comments to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said that only American customers should have access to the highest-quality Blackwell chips offered by Nvidia, the world's most valuable company by market capitalization.
"The most advanced, we won't let anyone but the United States have them," he told CBS, echoing remarks he made earlier to reporters as he returned to Washington from a weekend in Florida. "We don't give the chips to other people," he said during the flight.
The comments suggest that Trump could impose tighter restrictions on the most advanced U.S. artificial intelligence chips than U.S. officials have previously indicated, with China and potentially the rest of the world barred from the most sophisticated semiconductors.
In July, the Trump administration released a new artificial intelligence plan aimed at loosening environmental rules and significantly expanding AI exports to allies in an effort to maintain America's advantage over China in the critical technology.
Just last Friday, Nvidia said it would ship more than 260,000 Blackwell AI chips to South Korea and some of the country's largest companies, including Samsung Electronics.
Trump told CBS that he would not allow the sale of the most advanced Blackwell processors to Chinese companies, but did not rule out the possibility that they could get a less capable version of the chip. "We will let them do deals with Nvidia, but not on the most advanced chips," he said during the "60 Minutes" interview.
The possibility of any version of the Blackwell chips being sold to Chinese companies has drawn criticism from Chinese "hawks" in Washington, who fear the technology would boost China's military capabilities and accelerate the development of artificial intelligence.
Republican Representative John Mullen, who chairs the House China Committee, said such a move "would be akin to giving Iran weapons-grade uranium."
Trump had previously hinted that he might discuss the chips with Chinese President Xi Jinping before their summit in South Korea last week, but ultimately said the topic was not raised.
Nvidia has not sought U.S. export licenses for the Chinese market because of Beijing's stance on the company, Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang said last week.