Jensen Huang has proved to be a power player in Washington circles. His engagement with policymakers, including former President Donald Trump, is well known, as he has pursued aggressive chip diplomacy to advance policies in his company’s favor.
Huang is a crucial cog in the global AI system, supplying chips needed to power complicated AI-operated machines. He has established dominance in the chip market, controlling an estimated 80–90% of the data-center GPU market share through NVIDIA.
However, Huang’s professional relationships aren’t just restricted to Washington, as recent comments suggest he is cozying up to America’s most powerful tech billionaire, Elon Musk.
With Musk’s strong investment in several AI projects, it isn’t surprising that Jensen would think it useful to strike up a collaboration with him and aid him in his quest to bring more innovative AI products to market. In an interview with Bloomberg Television about eight months ago, Huang expressed his full support for Elon Musk’s “revolutionary” AI projects.
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang waxes lyrical about his relationship with Elon Musk
In the interview, Huang lauded Musk’s “revolutionary ideas” and stated that he loved working with him. Calling him an “extraordinary engineer”, Huang said, “We’ve built some amazing computers together. We’re going to build many more computers together.”
Furthermore, he was appreciative of Musk’s successful generative AI and robotics projects. “The work that he’s doing in Grok, his self-driving car, Optimus — these are all every single one of them world class, every single one of them revolutionary, every single one of them are going to be gigantic opportunities, and I’m delighted to be working with him on that.”
Musk has amplified his efforts on tapping the AI market through Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robot, positioning it as an integral part of his automation vision, while simultaneously developing Grok, the conversational AI available on the social media platform X that he also owns. Together, the projects underline his push towards generative AI and robotics, and Huang has had his fair share of contributions towards its success.
Also Read: Elon Musk Hails NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang’s Views On Work And Status
Huang’s quid pro quo relationship with Donald Trump
Huang’s relationship with Trump came to the fore after the latter approved the sale of NVIDIA’s H20 AI accelerator, the second-most-powerful chip, to China. Such was the trust that the American President placed in him that in May 2025, Huang also accompanied Trump on a Middle East trip during which the latter announced semiconductor deals with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The deal reportedly allowed the UAE to import up to 500,000 advanced NVIDIA AI chips annually.
“I see my friend is here, Jensen. [Apple CEO] Tim Cook isn’t here, but you are. What a job you’ve done. He’s got 99% of the chip market. That’s not easy to beat. Thank you for the investment. We are proud to have you in our country,” Donald Trump said, praising the NVIDIA head at the Saudi-U.S. Investment Forum last year.
In return, Huang praised the Trump administration’s energy and manufacturing policies at NVIDIA’s Washington, D.C., tech conference in October last year, and further announced plans to build seven AI supercomputers in partnership with the Department of Energy.
Safe to say, Huang is making all the right moves as two of the most powerful and wealthy men in the United States, Trump and Musk, have vouched for his credibility and competency in the global AI ecosystem.
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