Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Warns that America Stopping Him from Selling Chips to China Is Good for Chinese AI

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has expressed concern over the increasing sophistication of Chinese AI technology, as US export restrictions continue to hamper the chipmaker’s access to the Chinese market.

In a recent interview with Bloomberg Television, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang discussed the company’s first-quarter earnings and the challenges posed by U.S. chip restrictions on China. Huang warned that Chinese AI rivals are filling the void left by the departure of U.S. companies from the Chinese market, and their technology is becoming increasingly powerful.

U.S. export restrictions have effectively locked Nvidia out of China. As a result, the company expects to lose out on $8 billion in sales this quarter alone. During the earnings call, Huang spent a significant portion of time arguing that the U.S. government should ease these restrictions, as they are not achieving their intended purpose of keeping AI technology out of Chinese hands.

Instead, Huang pointed out that local Chinese companies are finding alternatives to fill the gap left by U.S. suppliers. Major purchasers of Nvidia’s products, such as Tencent, are turning to companies like Huawei, which has become “quite formidable” in the AI chip market, according to Huang.

The Nvidia CEO cautioned that the gap between US products and Chinese alternatives is rapidly decreasing. He noted that Huawei’s latest AI chip offers performance similar to Nvidia’s own H200, which was considered state-of-the-art until recently. Under new U.S. rules, Nvidia is unable to ship even its downgraded H20 chip to China, and further degradation of the product’s capabilities is not possible.

Huang emphasized the importance of the Chinese market, stating that it is home to the world’s largest population of AI researchers. He expressed his desire for all AI researchers and developers worldwide to use American technology, and stressed that the Chinese market cannot be underestimated, despite Nvidia’s recent near-term revenue success. Huang’s arguments build upon Nvidia’s recent public spat with AI company Anthropic, which argued that the chipmaker should not support the communist country’s AI endeavors.