Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang tells Trump ‘we’re not going to let [an AI slowdown]happen’

While Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was onstage at the All-In Summit on Monday morningin Los Angeles, he got a phone call that he couldn’t send to voicemail — it wasfrom President Donald Trump.“I’m onstage with the besties,” Huang told Trump, referring to the venturecapitalists who host the podcast All-In[https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/all-in-with-chamath-jason-sacks-friedberg/id1502871393],including tech investors Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis, and White Houseadvisers[https://www.whitehouse.gov/releases/2026/03/president-trump-announces-appointments-to-presidents-council-of-advisors-on-science-and-technology/]David Friedberg and David Sacks[https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/26/david-sacks-is-done-as-ai-czar-heres-what-hes-doing-instead/].In a move that will spark night terrors for public relations professionalseverywhere, Huang flaunted his comfort with the president by putting Trump onspeaker for conference attendees to hear.> Holy crap POTUS just phoned in @JensenHuang> [https://x.com/JensenHuang?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw] live on stage at All In Summit> > We will not lose the ai race! And whatever Dario said this weekend won’t stop> our progress> > This made my morning!$NVDA> [https://x.com/search?q=%24NVDA&src=ctag&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw]> pic.twitter.com/Sr4wV9kMfz [https://t.co/Sr4wV9kMfz]> > — Ben Pouladian ✈️ All-in Summit (@benitoz) September 14, 2026> [https://x.com/benitoz/status/2099572926865715548?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw]“The great thing about life is Jensen can develop the most complex computer chipin the world … but he can’t figure out how to put you on speaker,” Trump said onthe phone. (Huang is likely aware of how speakerphones work; he was askingstagehands for an extra microphone so that he could project the call to theaudience.)Onstage, Huang and the All-In hosts had been discussing Anthropic CEO DarioAmodei’s call to “slow the pace[https://darioamodei.com/post/we-must-pace-the-frontier] at which we improve thecapabilities of AI.” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman havepublicly said they agree with Amodei, while Huang’s views have diverged.“They’re just playing right in the hands of a lot of people that don’t want tosee it happen,” Trump said. “That could be political people. It could also beChina. And we’re not going to let that happen. It’s a hoax.”“You’re right. We’re not going to let that happen, sir,” Huang replied as thecrowd broke into applause.Trump and his allies, like Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan, have stated their beliefthat the growing sentiment against data center construction is part of aninternational psyop[https://garryslist.org/posts/the-campaign-to-kill-american-ai-runs-through-san-francisco]to stifle American economic growth. But the source of the public’s concern[https://www.theverge.com/cs/features/975597/loudoun-county-virginia-data-center-backlash]is more straightforward. Recent Gallup polling shows that seven in 10 Americansoppose the construction of data centers in their area[https://news.gallup.com/poll/709772/americans-oppose-data-centers-area.aspx],with more than 50% of respondents citing the effect of data centers onenvironmental resources[https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/09/massachusetts-hits-data-centers-with-new-clean-power-rules/].About 20% said they were concerned about cost-of-living increases and effects ontheir quality of life.“We have to be a little bit careful … We have to do things and we have to dothem prudently, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to stop an industry,” Trumpsaid to Huang. “So I’m with you all the way. I didn’t even know how you feltabout it. I just hoped you felt the same way as me. We’re going to lead.”