NVIDIA CEO says U.S. companies will 'survive' Trump tariffs
More: Trump threatens 35% tariff for Canada amid flurry of letters threatening hikes
As Trump negotiates with China and other top trading partners, Huang's business sits dead center at the intersection of potentially costly United States tariffs, a boom in artificial intelligence - and the computer chips that power it.
The California-based company makes advanced chips, which are then mass-produced by companies like the Taiwan-based TSMC that would be heavily affected by a possible Trump tariff on semiconductor imports.
But Huang showed no signs of panic. Tariffs, taxes and all kinds of rules and regulations were in place long before he founded NVIDIA, said Huang. And if Trump moves ahead with steep semiconductor tariffs, it will be no different.
More: Trump wants more factory jobs in the US. But is there anyone to hire?
"Every single year there were rules and taxes and tariffs and policies and regulations, and we survived," Huang said. "I have every confidence that the world is going to survive this, companies will survive this and whatever it turns out to be, we'll make the best of it."
NVIDIA became the first publicly-traded company to reach a $4 trillion market value this week. It has gained 22% in value this year alone during an artificial intelligence boom. Huang's own net worth, which Forbes estimates to be $143.6 billion, makes him one of the richest men in the world.
Huang's July 10 meeting with Trump was his fifth in almost as many months, and he sat down with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent the next day.
More: Is that product really made in the USA? FTC cracks down on deceptive claims
In an interview with USA TODAY on July 11, Huang said he "absolutely" believes America needs to produce more semiconductors.
"Absolutely. I believe President Trump's vision, his bold vision to manufacture in the United States, it's great for our industries, it's great for our society," he said.
Trade wars: Trump keeps pushing on trade with tariff on copper imports; pharmaceuticals are next
Huang, who was born in Taiwan and educated in the U.S., said that while manufacturing has economic and national security benefits - it also has health and social benefits.
"We've lost a lot of manufacturing capability and skills, which is really great for skilled craft and people that work with their hands and build things. We want to celebrate that. We want to bring that back to the United States. It's very important to national security, industrial security, supply chain resilience," he said.
Trump referenced NVIDIA's record stock price on social media in a July 10 post promoting his tariffs ahead of his meeting with Huang.
Huang told USA TODAY that Trump said in their meeting that he was proud of the valuation.
"He spent a lot of time congratulating me and telling everybody all around him what a great achievement it was," Huang said.
They also discussed ways to help American tech companies maintain their competitive edge in the transition to AI and ways to bring skilled manufacturing back to America. He said NVIDIA is making supercomputers in Texas and packaging them in Arizona.
Huang will be in China next week. He said he talked to Trump about the trip but they did not discuss trade negotiations between the two countries and did not know when a final agreement could come to fruition.
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