NVIDIA is a state-controlled enterprise

NVIDIA and his CEO are in the news for all the wrong reasons. But something stood out in NVIDIA's Board's statement on the "matter":

The Board [of NVIDIA] prioritizes U.S. national and economic security, which is paramount to the interests of NVIDIA and its shareholders.

NVIDIA's Board has a fidiciuary obligation to its shareholders. That obligation doesn't extend to U.S. Government or any of its interests. I'm sure the Board's argument against that statement would be that support of the U.S. Government is a pre-condition of NVIDIA's ability to do business. Alienating the U.S. Government would be "value-destructive" for NVIDIA's shareholders. The Board is, of course, correct.

I wonder how many shareholders of NVIDIA invested in the stock with the idea that their main concern was "U.S. national and economic security"? My guess is precisely zero. Shareholders of NVIDIA, many of which have no connection to the US at all, invested in NVIDIA because they want to make money. They did not invest because their "paramount concern" is U.S. national and economic security. In this case, making money might also be aligned with "U.S. national and economic security," but it won't always be.

U.S. politicians have been throwing accusations of state control at every remotely successful large Chinese company over the past decade. Now we can see clearly that those accusations were actually just confessions.