Jensen Huang’s Late-Night Calls With President Trump Come as Nvidia’s China AI Chip Shipments Fall 44% in the First Half of 2026. Here’s Why His Access Matters. | The Motley Fool

ByteDance, Alibaba, and Tencent have reportedly ordered more than $35 billion worth of Nvidia (NVDA +0.90%) RTX PRO 5500 graphics cards at list prices, according to Reuters. Yet Nvidia may still deliver only a fraction of these orders, since Chinese demand exceeds its planned production capacity. These are reported orders, not realized revenue.

According to an IDC report, Nvidia’s shipments of data center artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China fell 44% year over year in the first half of 2026. These developments highlight two key challenges for Nvidia in China. U.S. export restrictions are limiting sales of its most advanced AI chips, while production constraints threaten deliveries of its export-compliant alternatives.

Political access cannot guarantee sales

In June 2026, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told the Associated Press that President Donald Trump sometimes calls him late at night to discuss jobs, manufacturing, and national security. Huang also attended Trump’s Sept. 24 state dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping. Reuters reported no breakthrough on AI-related disputes from that summit. Washington also has national security reasons to restrict exports of advanced computing.

Nvidia’s experience with the H200 AI chip highlights the limitations of U.S. export approvals. Although the company received licenses to ship limited quantities to China, Chinese government restrictions prevented it from selling the full permitted amount. The…