Author: Jeff Mason and Stephen Nellis
Dec 3 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump met with chip giant Nvidia Corp (NVDA) Chief Executive Jensen Huang on Wednesday to discuss export controls, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Nvidia did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment. He told CNBC that Huang told lawmakers at a meeting in the nation’s capital that state regulations would slow down the development of artificial intelligence.
Nvidia also opposes another proposed legislation that would require the company to sell its chips to U.S. customers before obtaining a license to sell them to “relevant countries.” Nvidia believes that the bill will restrict global competition in the artificial intelligence market.
Earlier in the day, podcaster Joe Rogan released a nearly three-hour interview with Huang in which the CEO of the world’s most valuable company praised Trump and said he was in regular contact with administration officials.
“Every time I call, if I need something, I want to get off my chest, express some concerns, they’re always available,” Huang said on the podcast.
Huang also told Rogan that while it is in the national security interest of the United States to develop artificial intelligence before other countries do, there may not be a clear inflection point for any one country to win the race.
“I think this may be a lot more gradual than we think,” Huang said. “It’s not going to be a momentary thing. It’s not going to be one person arriving and someone else not… I think things are going to get better and better and better, just like technology.”
Huang will also speak later Wednesday at an event hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason in Washington, Stephen Nellis in San Francisco and Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona, Deepa Babington and Diane Kraft)