Don’t envy Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang—he’s hamstrung by Washington and Beijing

Yes, he runs Nvidia, the most valuable company on the planet, worth $4.4 trillion at the close yesterday. But to keep it No.1, he must lead that company through an environment of head-spinning complexity that will get harder before it gets easier. To help understand what he faces, I spoke with Jessica Brandt, a senior fellow for technology and national security at the Council on Foreign Relations, previously in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and before that, policy director of the Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technology Initiative at the Brookings Institution.

“Nvidia is squeezed between Washington and Beijing,” she says. “Washington has indicated, ‘Go forth and sell [Nividia’s] H20 chips,’ but Beijing seems to be pressuring domestic firms not to buy.” That’s the short-term problem. The long-term problem may be tougher. She thinks that as China steadily improves its home-grown tech, Nvidia may not lead there at all.

Nvidia is, of course, subject to U.S. policy, but what will that be? “If you think success is about exporting American tech and the values that go with American tech, then selling more chips is a good thing. But if the goal is to constrain Beijing’s AI system from making large capability advances, then selling high-end chips seems like not a great idea,” Brandt says. “There’s a rampant debate here in Washington right now about how to balance those equities and preserve U.S. interests.” Huang is, you guessed it, caught right in the middle. 

A broader problem goes beyond China. It derives from the Trump administration’s offer to let Nvidia export H20 chips to China in return for 15% of the revenue. “If we want to be able to sell American technology abroad, which I think we really do, then it’s best when these companies are credibly viewed as independent actors,” she says—that is, not in partnership with the government. “It’s not just about selling in China. The more there is the perception that firms are not necessarily independent actors, that could potentially impact their ability to sell elsewhere.”

Put it all together, and Brandt says Huang “is playing a complicated multi-tier game”—one where every move he makes is under the microscope.

We’ll be back in your inbox on Tuesday after the Labor Day holiday.—Geoff Colvin

Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com

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The markets

S&P 500 futures fell 0.27% this morning premarket, after the index closed up 0.32% yesterday, another record high. STOXX Europe 600 was down 0.51% in early trading. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 declined 0.37% in early trading. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down 0.26%. China’s CSI 300 was up 0.74%. The South Korea KOSPI was down 0.32%. India’s Nifty 50 was flat before the end of the session. Bitcoin fell to $109.8K.

Around the watercooler

A tax company in Kansas City gave thousands of workers the afternoon off to celebrate Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s engagement by Jessica Coacci

Forget 40 hours: The Dutch get their work done in just 32 hours a week—and women made it possible by Emma Burleigh

Nvidia is positioning itself to cash in on the data center boom—even if mega-AI campuses don’t get built by Sharon Goldman

In a frozen luxury housing market, buyers are asking to ‘try before you buy’ and having sleepovers in multimillion-dollar mansions by Sydney Lake

CEO Daily is compiled and edited by Joey Abrams and Jim Edwards.