'We need the smartest people': Nvidia, OpenAI CEOs react to Trump's H-1B visa fee

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman connected Monday commented connected President Donald Trump's determination to summation the outgo of hiring overseas workers connected visas.

Trump connected Friday announced that helium would raise the interest for an H-1B visa to $100,000, leaving companies scrambling. Employers present indispensable person documentation of the outgo anterior to filing an H-1B petition connected behalf of a worker. Applicants volition person their petitions restricted for 12 months until the outgo is made, according to the White House.

Huang and Altman responded to the changes successful an interrogation with CNBC's Jon Fortt, wherever the 2 executives announced that Nvidia volition put $100 cardinal successful OpenAI arsenic the artificial quality laboratory sets retired to physique hundreds of billions of dollars-worth of information centers based astir the chipmaker's AI processors.

"We privation each the brightest minds to travel to the U.S. and retrieve migration is the instauration of the American Dream," Huang said Monday. "We correspond the American Dream. And truthful I deliberation migration is truly important to our institution and is truly important to our nation's future, and I'm gladsome to spot President Trump making the moves he's making."

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman besides expressed a affirmative outlook connected Trump's changes.

"We request to get the smartest radical successful the country, and streamlining that process and besides benignant of outlining fiscal incentives seems bully to me," Altman said.

The caller $100,000 interest would beryllium a seismic displacement for U.S. exertion and concern sectors, which trust connected the H-1B programme for highly skilled immigrants, peculiarly from India and China. Those 2 countries accounted for 71% and 11.7% of visa holders past year, respectively.

Those who already person H-1B visas and are located extracurricular the U.S. volition not be required to wage the interest successful bid to re-enter. Many employers usage H-1B workers to capable the gaps successful these highly method roles that are not recovered wrong the American labour supply. 

-- CNBC tech newsman Annie Palmer contributed to this report.

WATCH: Watch CNBC's afloat interrogation with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and OpenAI leaders Sam Altman and Greg Brockman