Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman expressed support for President Donald Trump’s decision to raise the H-1B visa fee to $100,000, saying the policy could help attract top global talent to the United States.
The leaders commented Monday in a joint interview with CNBC’s Jon Fortt.
“We want all the brightest minds to come to the US and remember immigration is the foundation of the American Dream,” Huang said Monday.
“We represent the American Dream. And so I think immigration is really important to our company and is really important to our nation’s future, and I’m glad to see President Trump making the moves he’s making.”
OpenAI’s Altman echoed the positive outlook on the visa changes.
“We need to get the smartest people in the country, and streamlining that process and also sort of outlining financial incentives seems good to me,” he said.
Fee changes and compliance requirements
Trump announced Friday that the fee for an H-1B visa will rise to $100,000.
Employers must now have documentation of the payment prior to filing an H-1B petition on behalf of a worker.
Applicants will have their petitions restricted for 12 months until the payment is made, according to the White House.
The shift raises the upfront cost of sponsoring highly skilled foreign workers and introduces a documentation requirement before petition submission.
Nvidia-OpenAI investment announced
Huang and Altman also said Nvidia will invest $100 billion in OpenAI as the artificial intelligence lab pursues plans to build hundreds of billions of worth of data centres based around Nvidia’s AI processors.
Nvidia shares rose as much as 3.1% in New York trading on Monday, extending gains of about 36% so far this year.
“The first gigawatt of NVIDIA systems will be deployed in the second half of 2026 on the NVIDIA Vera Rubin platform,” the companies said in a press release.
The deal underscores Nvidia’s efforts to ensure its hardware remains central to the rapid buildout of AI systems.
Industry impact and talent pipeline
The new $100,000 fee would be a seismic shift for US technology and finance sectors, which rely on the H-1B program for highly skilled immigrants, particularly from India and China.
Those two countries accounted for 71% and 11.7% of visa holders last year, respectively.
Many employers use H-1B workers to fill highly technical roles that are not found within the American labour supply.
Those who already have H-1B visas and are located outside the US will not be required to pay the fee in order to re-enter.
That exemption could mitigate immediate disruptions for current employees travelling abroad.
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