US President Donald Trump tried to break up tech giant Nvidia to encourage greater competition in the artificial intelligence (AI) chip sector. Speaking at an AI summit in Washington on July 23, Trump said he initially believed splitting the company might open the market to new players.
What did Trump say about Nvidia?
“I said, ‘Look, we will break this guy up,’ before I learned the facts here,” Trump remarked during his address. However, he admitted that after being briefed by his aides that doing so was “very hard” and that the company held a substantial advantage over all competitors, he realised such a move would be far more complex than he first thought, according to a Bloomberg report.
Trump said he was told that Nvidia’s lead in AI chips was so vast that dismantling its dominance would take years, and there were no obvious competitors ready to take its place.
“I figured we could go in and we could sort of break them up a little bit, get them a little competition, and I found out it’s not easy in that business,” he added.
However, Nvidia declined to comment on Trump’s remarks.
Despite his earlier thoughts about breaking up the company, Trump heaped praise on Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang, who was present in the audience. Trump commended Huang’s leadership and contribution to the AI sector, calling him a “tremendous executive”. “What a job you have done,” Trump said.
Huang, who had met Trump at the White House earlier this month, also expressed admiration for the president. During his own speech at the summit, Huang said, “America’s unique advantage that no other country can possibly have is President Trump.”
Nvidia’s global position
Nvidia recently became the first company to cross a US$4 trillion market value, fuelled by its dominance in producing high-performance AI chips. These chips are essential for training and running advanced AI systems like large language models.
The company’s success has made it a central player in the AI boom, with its products in high demand globally. Earlier this month, it was allowed to resume sales of its H20 chips to China, following a recent easing of trade restrictions under the Trump administration.
Competition
Nvidia has been under regulatory scrutiny before. In 2024, the US Department of Justice launched an investigation into the company’s business practices, looking for signs of anti-competitive behaviour. No major enforcement action has followed so far.
At the summit, President Trump also introduced his administration’s new AI Action Plan. The plan includes several executive orders aimed at reducing regulatory burdens for AI developers and encouraging innovation in the field.
