In Reply to: Back to why they let Jensen do this so long posted by russsmith on November 14, 2026 at 08:40:23
In terms of reverse engineering, China already had access to NVIDIA’s best chips through the secondary market.
The issue wasn't necessarily that Jensen wanted to sell NVIDIA's most advanced chips to China. It was that, unlike previous administrations, the Trump administration ultimately allowed the sale after initially restricting it. Previous administrations had maintained restrictions while allowing only downgraded versions of the chips specifically designed for the Chinese market.
I'm not particularly convinced by those particular concerns. My suspicion is that there is considerable value in having blackmail leverage over the CEO of arguably the world's most technologically advanced and valuable companies. But China was already making significant advances in these areas without needing any kompromat.