Jensen Huang: "If It Had Been Trump's H-1B Visa Policy, My Family Couldn't Have Come to the US"

"Could Not Afford the $100,000 H-1B Fee"
"NVIDIA Will Continue to Support Employee Visas"

Jensen Huang, CEO of the artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor company NVIDIA, stated that if the current Trump administration policies had been in effect during his childhood, he would not have been able to come to the United States.

According to Yonhap News on October 8 (local time), citing an interview with CNBC's "Squawk Box," CEO Huang said, "If President Donald Trump's H-1B visa policy had been in place back then, my family would not have been able to immigrate to the United States," and added, "We could not have afforded a $100,000 visa fee." CEO Huang, who is originally from Taiwan, moved to Thailand and then came to the United States with his brother at the age of nine. About two years later, his parents joined them.

Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA. Photo by Yonhap News

Last month, President Trump announced plans to raise the H-1B visa issuance fee for foreign skilled workers to $100,000, a hundredfold increase from the previous amount.

CEO Huang emphasized, "Immigration is the foundation of the American Dream," and said, "It represents the opportunity to create a better future through hard work and talent." He added, "Currently, NVIDIA is supporting 1,400 H-1B visas," and stated, "We will continue to cover employee visa costs and hope to see some improvements in the policy."

Additionally, CEO Huang commented on the recent competitive landscape in the AI chip market and issues surrounding energy infrastructure. Regarding AMD's multi-billion-dollar chip supply agreement with OpenAI, which includes offering up to a 10% equity stake, he described it as "astonishing and imaginative." However, he also noted, "It is very unusual to give up 10% of a company’s equity before even producing a product."

Last month, NVIDIA also announced plans to invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI over the next ten years. CEO Huang explained, "NVIDIA’s investment structure is different from AMD’s; we sell products directly to OpenAI."

He stated, "Over the past six months, demand for AI computing has exploded," and noted, "As AI models perform more complex inferences, power consumption is surging." He added, "AI has become essential infrastructure across all industries. We are now at the starting point of a new industrial revolution."