Jensen Huang eclipses Elon Musk and Tim Cook in Washington

The Chinese-US trade war under the first Donald Trump administration saw Apple CEO Tim Cook suffer a fascinating attack with the president, maintaining strong ties with Beijing.

While Apple shunned US tariffs and continued to grow in China, Cook gained a reputation as a skilled policy navigator and gained a prominent American business envoy in Beijing.

But in Trump 2.0, not only does Apple lose the crown to Nvidia as America’s most valuable company, but he says that Jensen Huang, the charismatic leader of AI darling, is slowing Cook far behind with political influence.

“Han became a global figure and took on a new political role for success in the AI revolution,” said Dan Ives of Wedbush, adding that the importance of Nvidia’s AI chip “covered him before Cook.”

“He found himself in a very powerful position to navigate the political landscape… (AS) There is only one chip in the world that fuels the AI revolution. That’s Nvidia’s,” Ives said.

Huang’s political advantage optics are stronger than ever, as Nvidia announced last week during its CEO’s latest visit to Beijing that it had hoped to resume sales of its H20 AI chips to China soon.

Exports of H20 chips to China were restricted earlier this year. This is a move Huang openly lobbyed.

“It was a historic victory for Nvidia and Jensen…and I think it shows the increase in political influence Huang has within the Trump administration,” Ives said. Fans met with Trump in DC just before China visited.

The H20 reversal is related to trade negotiations between the US and China. However, several experts told CNBC that Huang’s lobbying had played a major role in it.

The Nvidia CEO has met with Trump multiple times this year, including joining him on a trip to the Middle East in May. The results showed that hundreds of thousands of Nvidia’s advanced AI chips would be delivered to the United Arab Emirates.

Emirates’ deals are seen as a way for the US to drive global technology leadership, solidifying its technology stack in newer markets than potential rivals like China’s Huawei.

After the trip, Huang began filing lawsuits against US tipping restrictions, claiming it would erode American technical leadership for the benefit of Chinese players in the country.

According to a report by The New York Times, this was also the story of Huang pushing Trump and his officials behind the scenes.

Paul Triolo, senior vice president of China and Technology Policy Lead at DGA-Albright Stonebridge Group, told CNBC that Huang’s debate coincides with the mindset of the influential White House AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks, further shaking controls to raise restrictions on H20 chip exports.

“Both Sacks and Huang argue that by limiting the export of US technologies to China, and to China, there is a risk that Chinese companies will encourage domestic alternatives… At the end of the day, this debate could have probably carried the day with H20,” he said.

It is unclear when, or if Nvidia will restart its H20 production line, but even if Nvidia can simply sell existing stocks in the chip, it will “have a significant increase in revenue and beneficial for Nvidia in terms of Chinese client goodwill,” Triolo added. Nvidia said it would need a $4.5 billion cut in its unsold H20 inventory in May.

Huang said last week that all civilian AI models should be implemented on the US technology stack and that “encourage countries around the world to choose America.”

When Trump won his second presidential election in November, many expected another tech CEO to have the most influence in the administration and act as a bridge between the US and China. However, Tesla’s Elon Musk has said a rather public farewell to Trump.

In November, experts told CNBC that Musk’s close ties with Trump and his business interests for China would help ease the president’s aggressive trade stance on Beijing, noting that Tesla’s CEO would put too much stock.

Meanwhile, under Trump’s second presidency, Apple chefs have seen a strong pushback from the administration.

In May, Trump expressed “Tim Cook’s small problem” about India’s Apple Manufacturing products, despite the iPhone manufacturer’s pledge to invest $500 billion in the US.

In response to the latest trade tensions between China and the US, Apple has accelerated its efforts to break away from its risky supply chain from China by moving more iPhone production to India.

Earlier this month, Trump adviser Peter Navarro also criticized Cook, saying he wasn’t moving production fast enough from China.

Apple and Cook were each considered the most influential companies and CEOs of the first Trump administration, according to Ray Wang, CEO of Silicon Valley-based Constellation Research, but Huang and Nvidia said. “Almost everything is on Nvidia chips.”

According to Triolo, Huang has been able to “straddle both the US government and the Chinese market quite skillfully” so far, but “President Trump looks like a huge fan, but it’s unclear exactly where the administration will be portrayed in the chip limit.

“The goal post here has been changed several times, causing serious and expensive mandatory redesigns and booking capabilities,” he said.

Other experts say that despite the growing influence of Hyan in the tech world and the Trump administration, there is no guarantee that it will remain.

“At this point, Nvidia has gone from being a major target in chip control to Chief influencer. The question is, how long will that moment last?” said Reva Goujon, director of Rhodium Group.

The US is currently conducting a survey on the semiconductor industry that could potentially bring sector-wide tariffs, once again opposed the Trump administration’s objectives with Nvidia’s business. Nvidia has moved more manufacturing to the US, but most of it remains in Taiwan.

Cook may offer lessons on how difficult it is to run a major technology business that considers both China and the US as key markets.