The architect of the AI boom just revealed how different his story could have been. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told CNBC Wednesday that his family's immigration to the U.S. "would not have been possible" under Trump's new $100,000 H-1B visa fee. The personal admission from tech's most powerful executive highlights how immigration policy is reshaping Silicon Valley's talent pipeline amid the AI race.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang just put a deeply personal face on one of tech's most contentious policy debates. Speaking on CNBC's Squawk Box, the man who's become the face of the AI revolution revealed that his own family's American dream would have been impossible under President Trump's new immigration rules.
"I don't think that my family would have been able to afford the $100,000 and so the opportunity for my family and for me to be here would not have been possible," Huang said, referring to Trump's September announcement requiring employers to pay $100,000 for each H-1B visa.
The timing of Huang's comments couldn't be more pointed. As Nvidia sits at the center of the global AI boom, with its market cap soaring past $3 trillion, the CEO who built that empire is reminding everyone how he got here in the first place. Born in Taiwan, Huang immigrated to the U.S. at age nine with his brother. Their parents joined them two years later - a family reunion that would be financially out of reach for many under the new policy.
Trump's dramatic fee increase sent shockwaves through Silicon Valley in September, hitting an industry that's become increasingly dependent on foreign talent. The numbers tell the story: Amazon topped the H-1B charts in fiscal 2025, sponsoring over 10,000 applicants according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Tech giants Microsoft, Meta, Apple, and Google each sponsored over 4,000 visas.
But the policy is splitting tech leadership. While Huang calls immigration "the foundation of the American dream," other executives are embracing the change. Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings called the $100K fee "a great solution" on X, arguing it will eliminate the visa lottery and create more certainty for high-value positions.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman echoed that support in September, telling CNBC that "streamlining that process and also sort of outlining financial incentives seems good to me." The backing from AI's poster child companies creates an interesting dynamic - the very industry built by immigrants like Huang is now divided on immigration policy.
