MW Elon Musk, Jensen Huang and Tim Cook are set to dine this week with Xi. Here's what their companies want from China.
Tanner Brown
The Trump White House's guest list reads like a map of corporate America's exposure to China - from Tesla's Shanghai factory, to Nvidia's blocked AI chips, to Citi's long-awaited brokerage license
American business leaders joined Trump administration officials in accompanying President Donald Trump during his trip to China earlier this year.
Elon Musk has nearly $21 billion in annual Tesla revenue tied to China. Apple took in more than $64 billion in its Greater China region last year. Nvidia has billions of dollars' worth of chips it has struggled to sell there. And Citigroup is still waiting for Beijing to approve a securities business it first applied to launch in 2021.
On Thursday, the people behind those companies are expected to sit down to have dinner with Xi Jinping.
Musk, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Citi CEO Jane Fraser and Tim Cook, Apple's executive chair and former longtime chief executive, are among the business leaders invited to the White House state dinner for the Chinese president. Jeff Bezos, Sundar Pichai, Sam Altman and Michael Dell are also expected to attend.
The dinner comes during a visit that is expected to include talks between Xi and U.S. President Donald Trump on trade, rare earths and artificial intelligence. For the executives in the room, though, some of the issues are more specific.
"China has become an important part of their corporate DNA and business ecosystem," Sean Stein, president of the U.S.-China Business Council, said recently.
The U.S.-China Business Council's latest survey found 95% of responding U.S. companies considered China at least somewhat important to their global competitiveness.
His group's latest survey found 95% of responding U.S. companies considered China at least somewhat important to their global competitiveness.
Few companies illustrate that better than Tesla (TSLA).
The electric-vehicle maker generated $20.96 billion in China revenue in 2025, about 22% of its worldwide total. But the market has become much tougher: Tesla's share of China's battery-EV market fell to 6.6% in the second quarter, from more than 15% in 2020, as homegrown competitors have gained ground.
For Musk, simply keeping the playing field predictable would matter. Tesla's Shanghai factory remains a crucial manufacturing and export hub, while Chinese regulators have enormous influence over how freely the company can operate in its biggest market outside the U.S.
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Huang has a different problem: Nvidia (NVDA) has customers in China that want its chips, but making those sales has become increasingly complicated.
U.S. export controls forced Nvidia to take a $4.5 billion charge last year related to its China-focused H20 processor. Washington has since permitted limited shipments of its newer H200 to some Chinese customers. Nvidia, however, has said Chinese restrictions have prevented it from selling all the chips covered by those licenses. H200 sales under the program accounted for less than 1% of Nvidia's latest quarterly data-center revenue.
That leaves Huang needing approval from both capitals: Washington has to let Nvidia ship the chips, and Beijing has to let Chinese companies buy them.
Apple's (AAPL) exposure is broader.
The company reported $64.4 billion in Greater China sales in fiscal 2025, roughly 15% of its worldwide revenue. China also remains deeply woven into Apple's manufacturing network, even as the company shifts more production to countries including India and Vietnam.
Beijing can affect what Apple sells, as well as where it makes it. Apple Intelligence was registered for use in China only in July, with Alibaba (BABA) and Baidu (BIDU) helping Apple comply with Chinese rules governing generative AI.
Fraser, meanwhile, has something even more concrete on her wish list.
Citi $(CUL3)$ is awaiting final approval for a wholly owned Chinese securities brokerage. The bank filed its application in 2021 and could receive a license as soon as this month. Once it does, Citi plans to roughly double the unit's workforce to around 100 employees.
The guest list is a useful reminder of how difficult it has been to untangle the world's two largest economies.
Alphabet's (GOOG) (GOOGL) Pichai and OpenAI's Altman have less direct dependence on Chinese sales, but they have plenty at stake in the broader relationship. Their companies are competing in an AI race in which Chinese developers have rapidly closed the gap with U.S. models, while both governments are trying to determine how much technology - and particularly advanced computing power - should cross the Pacific.
AI is expected to feature in the summit talks.
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The dependence is not entirely one-way. The Chinese government is expected to bring its own business interests to Washington, while Chinese companies remain exposed to U.S. tariffs, investment restrictions and technology controls.
But the American guest list is a useful reminder of how difficult it has been to untangle the world's two largest economies.
For the executives sitting down with Xi, China can be a customer, a factory floor, a regulator and a rival - sometimes all at once.
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-Tanner Brown
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