The Trump administration official who runs U.S. export control programs was looking for marquee names for his agency¡¯s upcoming annual conference and threw an unusual option into the mix: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.
Under Secretary of Commerce Jeffrey Kessler had expressed interest in recent months in inviting Huang to be a speaker at the Bureau of Industry and Security event on Jan. 10 in Washington, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations.?
Kessler bragged about his ability to get Huang to attend, the people said, though the then-Nvidia chief ultimately fell out of the running. A BIS spokesperson said no speakers have been invited to the conference yet and planning is still under way.
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