Trump's Blackwell Chip Ban 'Outside the US', Jensen Huang Fails to Supply 260,000 Units to Korea, Korean Media Claims 'China Ban'
President Trump announced a "ban on Blackwell chips outside the US." Earlier, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang visited South Korea and announced the supply of 260,000 units to South Korea. Korean media reported Trump's announcement as a "China ban."
Jensen Huang's strategy of targeting Blackwell chips in China, using President Lee Jae-myung, Samsung Chairman Lee Jae-yong, and Hyundai Chairman Chung Eui-sun in Seoul on the 31st, appears to have failed with Trump's announcement of a "ban on non-US markets."
On the 2nd, Reuters reported, "Trump Says China, Other Countries Can't Have Nvidia's Top AI Chips," under the headline, "US President Trump said most advanced chips would be reserved for US companies, excluding China and other countries."
Reuters reported, “In a recorded interview on CBS’s “60 Minutes” and in comments to reporters aboard Air Force One on the 1st, President Trump said that only American customers should have access to the high-end Blackwell chips provided by Nvidia, the world’s most valuable company by market capitalization,” and “He told CBS, ‘The most advanced countries will make sure that no one but the United States has them,’” and repeated this to reporters aboard Air Force One, saying, “We don’t give those (Blackwell) chips to anybody else,” the report said, including South Korea. Reuters, prior to this article on the 2nd, reported under the headline,
"Trump Says Nvidia's Blackwell AI Chip Is Not for 'Others'" that "President Trump hinted at discussing chips with Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of last week's summit in South Korea, but ultimately said the topic did not come up, and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said last week that Nvidia did not seek U.S. export licenses for the Chinese market due to China's stance on the company." The article then added, "Including South Korea Control."
Jensen Huang of Nvidia, a leading U.S. semiconductor company, told reporters in Seoul on the 31st, immediately following the U.S.-China summit, that the company would supply more than 260,000 cutting-edge AI chips to the South Korean government and some major corporations, including Samsung Electronics.
He also hosted a beer party with heads of the Samsung and Hyundai conglomerates, promoting the company's push into the Chinese market and fundraising in South Korea. Trump's remarks appear to be a response to this.
Regarding Hwang's remarks, Reuters stated, "The deal represents the latest step for a company at the center of a global race to integrate artificial intelligence into products and services."
The deal, announced on the 29th, adds to a series of global deals that helped Nvidia become the first $5 trillion company, but President Trump's "ban" remarks on the 2nd appear to have stalled.
Reuters reported on the 2nd that "Jensen Huang made it very clear at a developer event that they don't want Nvidia there right now," adding that they "need to approach China to fund US-based research and development."
Nvidia also announced on the 31st that it would supply more than 260,000 Blackwell AI chips to some of South Korea's largest companies, including Samsung Electronics.
South Korean media outlets responded to the Reuters report with Newsis reporting on the 3rd that "President Trump has stated that he will not hand over Nvidia's cutting-edge chips to China." The Chosun Ilbo reported that "Trump said, 'We won't give Nvidia's latest chips to other countries... Reuters reported on the 3rd that, under the headline "10 Years Ahead," US President Trump said he would not give Nvidia's latest AI chip, Blackwell, to any other country.
Reuters reported, "US President Donald Trump said on the 2nd that Nvidia's advanced Blackwell chip for AI will not be available to 'other people,'" adding, "However, Trump's remarks to reporters aboard Air Force One suggest his administration may not allow widespread foreign access to the valuable chips."
"The new Blackwell chip that just came out is 10 years ahead of everything else," Trump told reporters, "but no, we're not giving it to anyone else," Reuters reported. Newsis then reported that, "When asked in an interview with CBS's '60 Minutes' aired on the 2nd whether he would allow the sale of Nvidia's cutting-edge chips to China, President Trump replied, "No, we won't."
Regarding the gift of two Xiaomi phones by Chinese President Xi Jinping to South Korean President Lee Jae-myung at the South Korea-China summit, the New York Times reported on the 2nd under the title “When the Chinese Leader Joked About Spying” that “The first Trump administration blacklisted Xiaomi and warned American companies that they could be banned from future Department of Defense contracts if they did business with the smartphone and electric car maker.” The Times also stated that “Xiaomi claims to have no ties to the Chinese military and successfully sued the U.S. government to be removed from the blacklist.” The Times added that “For years, the United States and its allies have warned that Chinese technology could be used for spying, and the U.S., Australia, and the U.K. have all banned Chinese tech company Huawei from their 5G mobile networks.” The New York Times reported on the "joke" between the two leaders, saying, "The joke revolved around two cell phones that President Xi gave to Lee during their meeting in Gyeongju on the 31st—one for him and his wife." "The phones were manufactured by the Chinese company Xiaomi and had Korean displays," a spokesperson for President Xi said as the two leaders inspected them with news cameras rolling.
John Delury, author of CIA Operations in China in the 1950s, told the Times, "What's interesting here is that they're doing it openly, but they're not admitting, 'I'm spying on you, you're spying on me.'" He added, "They're laughing and referencing the secret world of espionage and surveillance with a more ironic and playful air."
President Lee then picked up one of the phones in the box, marveled at it, and asked how secure it was. President Xi laughed, referring to pre-installed software that allows third parties to monitor the phones, saying, "You can check for backdoors." President Lee laughed again.
The New York Times reported, "Governments generally admit to spying on allies out of necessity," and that "after Edward Snowden revealed in 2013 that the United States had been monitoring German Chancellor Angela Merkel's phone for over a decade, President Barack Obama promised Merkel that such a thing would never happen again."
"Cellphones aren't a typical diplomatic gift because of security concerns," said Patrick F. Walsh, a professor of intelligence and security studies at Charles Sturt University in Australia. "Would the president use a Xiaomi phone? Probably not," he told the Times. "I can't imagine him saying, 'I have this phone, so I'm going to talk to the Japanese prime minister or Washington.' He might give it to someone like his granddaughter."
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