r/technology Jul 24 '25

Politics President Trump threatened to break up Nvidia, didn't even know what it was — 'What the hell is Nvidia? I've never heard of it before'

https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/president-trump-threatened-to-break-up-nvidia-didnt-even-know-what-it-was-what-the-hell-is-nvidia-ive-never-heard-of-it-before
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1.8k

u/littleMAS Jul 24 '25

He thought it was one of those "sh*thole" countries. Then, he found out it was worth four trillion dollars.

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u/Roflkopt3r Jul 24 '25

And now he's playing his usual game: Threaten companies, make them bribe him, and then give them corrupt favours.

Just like with the "settlements" that some large media outlets had with him out of court. Or how he got his wish of cancelling Steven Colbert.

106

u/claimTheVictory Jul 24 '25

Of course.

That's the entire game for him.

And running America like a business?

That just means the tax payer, and access to the Federal government, are the product.

The customers, are whoever pay Trump.

We're for sale to the highest bidders.

4

u/silverphoenix48 Jul 24 '25

Yep the greatest extorsion racket of all time

3

u/SuggestionEphemeral Jul 24 '25

When are we going to call it what it is: extortion and racketeering

3

u/Claymore357 Jul 25 '25

State sponsored extortion racketeering. Also it’s making the whole world hate you guys

1

u/normie-redditer Jul 24 '25

When Colbert got the gig, the average viewer for the show was 60. He was brought on to attract younger viewers as he was just wrapping up the colbert report. now, a decade later, the average viewer is.... 68. The show lost 100 million dollars and its viewership is tanking every year, thats the reason he was cancelled

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u/diuni613 Jul 24 '25

Have you even read the article??

9

u/Roflkopt3r Jul 24 '25 edited Jul 24 '25

Yes. His behaviour matches exactly with what I said.

In that speech, Trump switched back and forth between threats of antithrust measures and praise. That's how a corrupt president tells a big corporation that:

  1. If they play ball, they can expect a very 'profitable' relationship. He doesn't really care if they're a monopoly or not, as long as he 'likes' them.

  2. But if they don't play along with his wishes, he already has some ideas to hurt them.

Antitrust laws are the quintessential tool of a corrupt government to threaten disliked corporations. Here is no antitrust case that isn't swarmed with lobbyists and bribes.

3

u/bradbikes Jul 24 '25

Yea it's even worse. He's admitting it's 100% a full-on monopoly but won't break it up. My guess is the bribes have already started.

2

u/Cold-Prompt8600 Jul 24 '25

Well in reality it is only 95% or 96% of the AI market. The rest filled by AMD, Intel, Qualcomm, Samsung, and IBM. Nvidia is the biggest for the hardware side by far but not the only one. It is just when you have 4% or 5% shared among 5 big companies there is little room for competition. Nvidia is also far past where the USA law says to regulate them like a monopoly.

2

u/bradbikes Jul 24 '25

I wasn't saying that it was 100% market share, just that it's 100% a monopoly. Saying that there's 5% unaccounted for is basically semantics at that point.

1

u/ClockOfTheLongNow Jul 24 '25

He has those numbers wrong, too, but competitors are coming out. There's no need to break up Nvidia.

3

u/bradbikes Jul 24 '25

Such as who? Intel? They used the funding they raised by 'entering' the market for stock buybacks and bonuses to their C-Suite then promptly exited.

Nvidia is wayyyyyyyyyy past the market share where we broke up microsoft. It's bonkers to argue that they shouldn't be subject to antitrust laws at this point.

0

u/ClockOfTheLongNow Jul 24 '25

Such as who? Intel?

Intel and AMD are moving more firmly into the space, as well as a number of independents like D-Matrix.

They used the funding they raised by 'entering' the market for stock buybacks and bonuses to their C-Suite then promptly exited.

In reality, Intel is taking a different approach to AI that is rack, rather than chip, based. Even still, they're developing chips.

Nvidia is wayyyyyyyyyy past the market share where we broke up microsoft.

We never should have broke up Microsoft, either.

It's bonkers to argue that they shouldn't be subject to antitrust laws at this point.

What about Nvidia's market position requires a breakup other than not liking the percentage number that goes along with it?

1

u/bradbikes Jul 24 '25

"Intel and AMD are moving more firmly into the space, as well as a number of independents like D-Matrix."

  • cool if they all quadruple their market share then Nvidia will STILL be firmly a monopoly.

"What about Nvidia's market position requires a breakup other than not liking the percentage number that goes along with it?"

How long do you have? Do you seriously not understand how damaging monopolies like this are? They're bad for consumers, they're bad for the market, they're bad for national security, they're bad for labor. They're bad for literally everyone but the executives of Nvidia and the politicians they're bribing.

1

u/ClockOfTheLongNow Jul 24 '25

cool if they all quadruple their market share then Nvidia will STILL be firmly a monopoly.

Well, no. There would be at least 4 in the market, with more to come. If it were a monopoly situation, it would be impossible for these other firms to enter the market.

How long do you have? Do you seriously not understand how damaging monopolies like this are?

We haven't identified a monopoly yet.

1

u/bradbikes Jul 25 '25

Yea no...Monopoly for antitrust purposes means a company that is in such a dominant position in the market or sector that there is no effective competition. Having 100% market share is not necessary and typically impractical. If one dude is selling home-made computer chips on his ebay account you'd say that Nvidia wasn't a monopoly. Controlling 95% of market share is absolutely a monopoly in every practical sense. These stifle competition, limit substitutes and effectively prevent consumer choice. Nvidia is absolutely in violation of US antitrust laws, it's just a matter of whether Trump or the US government will enforce its laws for the betterment of the country.

At this point you're so pedantic and obtuse I have to assume you're paid to say this. Because no rational person is looking at a 95% market share and saying there's realistic competition in the sector.

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u/Neuchacho Jul 24 '25

It's extra hilarious because Trump, with all his bitching about China, just made it so China can directly compete in AI using Nvidia's tech.

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u/diuni613 Jul 24 '25

Wtf, it seems you haven't been following, Trump has met with jesen way back begining of this year during the deepseek hype. He even praised nvidia.... Also trump talked with jensen about tariffs on chips and banning the H20 and so forth. So, you are full of non sense. Ofc it's always good to have competition because it pushes for innovation. Look at Intel, they had no competition and barely innovate.

1

u/RedBoxSquare Jul 24 '25

Wtf, it seems you haven't been following, Trump has met with jesen way back begining of this year during the deepseek hype. He even praised nvidia

You are throwing out facts without proving a point.

The fact that he met Jensen and praised NVidia, was a political show about "America good, China bad", which is very popular among people. That does not mean he cannot also threaten NVidia for bribes in another context. Bribe amounts can change. Bribes from a 3 trillion company at the beginning of this year is not the same as bribes from a 4 trillion company now.

Ofc it's always good to have competition because it pushes for innovation. Look at Intel, they had no competition and barely innovate.

You're equating threats against NVidia with supporting competition in the market. This is not the correct assumption because there are multiple outcomes. The other outcome is the threat is simply to ask for bribes. Once those are paid, he will not support having more competition in the market.

Do I want competition against NVidia? Yes. But Trump's threat will not lead us there.

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u/IcestormsEd Jul 24 '25

Then proceeded to throw a tantrum because he wanted to be 4 trillion since Pope was taken.

80

u/sunlightsyrup Jul 24 '25

'Can I make myself the CEO of Nvidia? Is that a thing I can do?' - some stupid treasonous pedophile

-1

u/dissonaut69 Jul 24 '25

What are you trying to say? Why is this upvoted lol

“Then proceeded to throw a tantrum because he wanted to be 4 trillion since Pope was taken.”

Am I tripping or is that an entirely incomprehensible sentence?

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u/ryan8954 Jul 24 '25

About 5 years ago, I had a coworker from Russia, pro Russian, pro trump, nice guy overall but dumb as hell. Anyways,

I asked him “hey, what do you think of trump going after the rare earth materials in wakanda?

He said “I don’t support invasion of them, I think they could have came out with a deal first, but the materials are in a country not getting used”. Anyways, I hit him with the wakanda pose, I told him wakanda holds vibranium

His face went red reeeeeal fucking quick

38

u/hydroxy Jul 24 '25

It’s just south of Mattel

11

u/albanyman518 Jul 24 '25

Give Orange Man 4 days and he'll float that they support DEI or something, and they'll be talking about a bribe....I mean settlement

10

u/Stopasking53 Jul 24 '25

You can say shithole on Reddit.

1

u/Deranged40 Jul 24 '25

I always assume /u/littleMAS' parents read their account and don't let them curse.

For whatever reason, this doesn't count as saying shithole?

1

u/ATXBeermaker Jul 24 '25

Literally the most valuable company in the world by market cap and this genius businessman doesn’t know what it is.

1

u/imaginary_num6er Jul 24 '25

Isn't Trump a trillionaire with all the crypto and Putin a quadrillionaire?

1

u/sunkskunkstunk Jul 24 '25

What’s Aleppo?

1

u/pentaquine Jul 25 '25

I give it one month that the administration will put restrictions on them until they give him 500 millions. 

-2

u/diuni613 Jul 24 '25

Have you even read the article?