Donald Trump bought Nvidia stock worth millions of dollars as he made decisions on America’s China policy that would benefit the chipmaker, an analysis has found.
In May ۲۰۲۵, Trump’s administration rescinded a Biden-era rule designed to prevent the most advanced US AI chips from being exported to China.
This rule aimed to strengthen the US’s own chip industry and to protect America from what was widely regarded as a national security threat: the possibility that China might develop superior AI.
In the days before he rescinded the rule, Trump’s public financial disclosures indicate that he bought between $۱m (£۷۶۰,۰۰۰) and $۵m worth of Nvidia stock – a purchase noted in an analysis by the anti-corruption group DeKleptocracy.
He also bought shares in other tech companies, including Microsoft, Meta and Apple.
The diffusion rule would have limited Nvidia’s ability to sell to what has been one of its largest markets: China accounted for about a quarter of the company’s sales between ۲۰۱۰ and ۲۰۲۲. Nvidia’s shares rose in value just after Trump announced the rescission of the rule, and after he had bought the stock.
In December ۲۰۲۵ Trump said he would allow Nvidia to sell H۲۰۰ chips to China, a decision that was greenlit by the Department of Commerce in January ۲۰۲۶. This was a controversial move. H۲۰۰s were one of the company’s most advanced chips – six times better than what was available in the country at the time, said experts.
The Council on Foreign Relations suggested selling H۲۰۰s would “supercharge” China’s future AI factories and strengthen the US’s rival.
Trump’s public financial disclosures indicate he made at least three purchases of Nvidia stock in the days after announcing this, all of them between $۲۵۰,۰۰۱ and $۵۰۰,۰۰۰.
These trades are among Trump’s larger purchases of Nvidia stock, although he appears to have made dozens of transactions involving the chipmaker’s shares since taking office.
DeKleptocracy wrote in its analysis: “While the country debates how a possible Chinese spy may have manipulated White House policy for one AI company, it must grapple with how Trump’s corruption may have motivated him to deliver the entire AI industry’s technology to China.”
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The US – and the global economy – have been grappling with revelations that Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s former chief executive, had an affair with an alleged Chinese spy, Alice Huang.
Reports have suggested this relationship allowed Alice Huang’s company, Megaspeed, to obtain billions worth of Nvidia’s chips, even as other companies struggled.
Trump was twice briefed by US intelligence officials on their conclusions that Alice Huang was a Chinese asset. He did not act on this assessment.
Jensen Huang has been described as a close Trump ally and has met the president a number of times. Nvidia made a $۲۵m contribution to Trump’s ballroom in October ۲۰۲۵, with Huang saying he was “delighted to be a part of it”.
