On Friday afternoon last week, Jensen Huang, the chief executive of the chip maker Nvidia, slid into the White House to meet President Trump for the first time. There was no fanfare and he left without a single public photo of the two.
Two weeks earlier, the CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella, had a long lunch with Mr. Trump on his Mar-A-Lago estate in Florida. They dinner with little hassle and hardly made the news.
Neither of the executive power joined his Big Tech Toons that Ramrod behind Mr. Trump stood at his inauguration. Instead, the two were on a completely different continents: Mr Nadella traveled to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, while Mr. Huang played a visit to see suppliers and employees in Taiwan and China.
The absence in the inauguration of the Chief Executives of two of the world's most valuable companies was perhaps the most visual sign that some companies tried a lower key approach when Mr. Trump returned to Washington, even when some colleagues brought to flamboyant displays From dating.
For companies such as Microsoft and Nvidia, who, unlike many of their colleagues, have not made Mr. Trump angry: “It is almost businesslike as usual,” said S. Somasegar, a former Microsoft director now at Madrona Venture Group who regularly speaks With Mr. Nadella.
While Microsoft and Nvidia a quieter approach to Mr. Share Trump, their footprints in Washington are the opposite. Microsoft, at the point of his 50th birthday and more than two decades ago, was trained by his antitrust fighting, is demonstrably the Savviest player of Tech about policy issues, with a strong lobby and managers who have cherished contacts in both political parties.
Nvidia, on the other hand, is a rookie in Washington. The profile has grown rapidly in recent years, thanks to the overwhelming control over the specialized chips that other technology companies need to build large AI systems.
The commitment for both companies is high. The new administration must take out the rules on the sale of NVIDIA chips and the construction of Microsoft Data Centers abroad. Microsoft also has a range of other concerns, including cyber security, the regulation of AI systems and the electricity requirements to supply data centers. After a breakthrough development through the Startup Deepseek, Nvidia also runs a risk that the administration can further limit the sale of its chips to China.
“Everyone has to come to the table, and they will do it in different ways, because as the saying is, if you are not at the table, you are on the menu,” said Kevin Madden, a senior partner at Penta Group, a worldwide strategy company And a former senior strategist in the 2012 Presidential Campaign by Mitt Romney.
Their quieter strategies could be seen around the inauguration. Brad Smith, president of Microsoft, attended a reception for cabinet members organized by Vice President JD Vance. A week later, Mr. Smith and Mr Nadella went to a black dinner that was organized by the Alfalfa Club and attended by the Cabinet-Nominees Howard Lutnick, Linda McMahon and Doug Burgum, the former Governor of North Dakota and Mr Nadella's Old mentor at Microsoft. NVIDIA's Vice President of External Affairs, Ned Finkle, and some Nvidia policy personnel also attended the inauguration celebrations.
Just like other technology companies, Microsoft gave $ 1 million to the inauguration fund of Mr. Trump, but it did this after his colleagues. It gave $ 500,000 to the inaugural fund for the first Trump administration, as well as the Biden -inauguration in 2021 (Nvidia did not donate to the inaugural fund.)
When the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his fiancé, Lauren Sánchez, did the Roddelpages in a long-awaited trip to Mar-A-Lago in mid-December.
Microsoft leaders met the employees of Mr. Trump, Cabinet -Insertants and Technological Advisors prior to Mr Nadella, the person said. When they arrived in Mar-A-Lago, they knew the priorities and worries of Mr. Trump.
They spoke about safety and investing in infrastructure, and when Mr. Trump expressed his concern about the safety of nuclear energy – who wins popularity as a supplier of electricity for data centers – Mr Nadella, Mr. Smith and Elon Musk, who are lunch , tried to mitigate his fears, according to a person with knowledge of the conversation.
Mr. Huang of Nvidia skipped Mar-A-Lago and waited almost two weeks after the inauguration to visit the administration.
By the time he arrived in Washington this month, it had become clear that the Trump administration could be a threat to Nvidia's affairs. Mr Lutnick, a rich donor to Mr Trump who was chosen to lead the Commerce department, told Congress during his nomination hearing days earlier that he thought the American technology companies, including Nvidia, have to “stop helping” China.
“When they compete with us, they let them compete, but stop using our tools to compete with us,” he said.
The comments have crushed the hope of Nvidia that Mr. Trump could herald a lighter regulations than his predecessor. Under President Joseph R. Biden Jr. the United States has caught the sale of Nvidia chips to China and the sale of its AI chips closed to more than 100 other countries. The expansion and enforcement of those rules fall for the Trump government.
During the afternoon meeting of Mr. Huang with Mr. Trump, their first ever, Mr. Huang spoke about AI policy and semiconductors. But then Mr. Trump told reporters that he could not say whether he would ban China's chip sale to China. He added that although 'it was a good meeting', the administration was still planning to give rates to chips that were made abroad, which would lower the profit of Nvidia because the chips in Taiwan were made.
“He is a great lord,” said Mr. Trump about Mr. Huang. “He is the largest in the world in terms of chips.”
Mr. Finkle refused to discuss the meeting. In an interview with the New York Times, he said: “It went well, but I can't say much more than that.”
In the light of the pressure of the White House, Nvidia has strengthened its presence in Washington. This week, the company, which opened its first office there last year, brought a director of the Republican Government Affairs, Stewart Barber, who previously worked as an adviser to Ivanka Trump, said two people who were familiar with Nvidia's office who asked to anonymity Discuss for discussing staff.
The company has submitted an application to become a member of the information technology industry Council, a policy group that represents the most leading technology companies. It also hired American Global strategies, a geopolitical advisory group led by Robert C. O'Brien, who served as a White House National Security Advisor under Mr Trump for two years.
The late expansion of Nvidia in Washington can also be attributed to a recognition that demanded his new fame that it became more involved. In just over a year, the market value of NVIDIA was blown with $ 2 trillion, making it one of the world's three most valuable public companies, with Microsoft and Apple.
“This really shows their maturation and recognition that presence in Washington matters,” said Dean Garfield, a former senior vice -president of policy at Netflix, who led the Council of Information Technology -industry from 2009 to 2018. “Hopefully it is one of the several steps they take.”
