Nvidia Asked by reporters about the trip, CEO Jensen Huang said US President Donald Trump had “asked me to come” to the China summit in Beijing.
Hwang was added as an afterthought to Tuesday’s high-stakes trip after he was conspicuously absent from a list of senior officials participating in the trip shared by White House officials on Monday.
“This is a great opportunity for me, of course, to represent the United States and to support President Trump in one of the most important summits in human history,” Hwang told reporters on the sidelines of the event on Thursday.
“President Xi and President Trump have a very good relationship, and this is a great opportunity for us to build on that relationship and build a much better partnership,” he added.
A person familiar with the matter told CNBC on Wednesday that President Trump called an Nvidia executive to ask him to attend after Hwang reported his absence from the delegation. Officials said Huang flew to Alaska to board Air Force One.
As reported by CNBC and other media, President Trump confirmed in a social media post that Hwang was on board Air Force One, but denied that the Nvidia president was not invited.
Main focus of trading
Trade has been high on the agenda in Beijing, with President Trump commenting that opening up China to American companies would be his “first demand” of Mr Xi.
“I will be asking our extraordinary and distinguished leader, President Xi, to ‘open up’ China so that our brilliant people can work their magic and take the People’s Republic to even greater heights!” President Trump said, referring to a broad delegation of U.S. business representatives.
The delegation includes: tesla CEO Elon Musk apple CEO Tim Cook said: black rock CEO Larry Fink and boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg and others.
“This morning’s ceremony was very uplifting. President Xi was very inspiring and welcoming, and President Trump was very inspiring and very welcoming,” Huang said.
