Key Highlights:
- NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang warned that China “will win” the AI race due to U.S. export bans, regulatory hurdles, and energy bottlenecks.
- Huang praised China’s streamlined AI infrastructure policies and criticized U.S. restrictions blocking NVIDIA’s chip sales to Chinese firms.
- NVIDIA later issued a clarifying statement emphasizing America’s lead in AI and the importance of global collaboration.
Ever since Donald Trump has become President of the United States, major tech giants’ leaders are trying to choose their words wisely. Earlier this year, there were reports about how Trump was unhappy about Apple moving its production outside of China but entering the Indian market for producing its iPhones. He even told Tim Cook about it and addressed it publicly.
Speaking of tech giants, NVIDIA is one of the biggest semiconductor companies in the world, with a valuation of $5 trillion. So what’s new about NVIDIA, right? Well, Jensen Huang, NVIDIA’s CEO, has recently spoken something that might not appeal to the U.S. President.
NVIDIA’s CEO warned that China “will win” the AI race
In an exclusive report published by the Financial Times yesterday, Jensen Huang warned that China “will win” the AI race with US. From the looks of it, Huang isn’t happy with how the U.S. is handling artificial intelligence. According to him, Washington’s move to impose export bans and regulatory hurdles, along with the energy bottlenecks, has become one of the reasons why the U.S. is falling behind in the AI race with China. “You need more optimism,” Huang said when interviewed by the FT.
Speaking of energy and policy, NVIDIA’s CEO says that it is easy to build infrastructure for AI in China in comparison to the USA. He says that the U.S. has at least 50 different AI-specific rules; however, China has consolidated its policies to make the deployment of large-scale data centres even faster.
That’s not all; Huang also took jabs at U.S. export restrictions which block NVIDIA from selling one of its most advanced Blackwell AI chips to Chinese clients. He said that if China loses access to NVIDIA’s latest GPUs, the tech firms in China will rely on homegrown alternatives. This would not only accelerate their chip industry but also weaken America’s position in the global AI race.
NVIDIA softens its stance hours after the FT’s report went online
While the FT’s report became the talking point of the AI industry and tech industry at large, it also made the NVIDIA’s chief backtrack and soften his stance about what he commented. Hours later, after the FT interview went online, NVIDIA’s X (formerly Twitter) account posted a softening statement which reads:
As I have long said, China is nanoseconds behind America in AI. It is vital that America wins by racing ahead and winning developers worldwide.
We don’t know whether the original comments are going to harm NVIDIA’s place in the U.S., but it certainly looks like Huang doesn’t want to upset the current U.S. President.
Not the first time Huang talked about the U.S. export bans
This isn’t the first time NVIDIA’s CEO hasn’t passed similar comments. In a podcast earlier this year, Huang warned that export controls are counterproductive, claiming that restricting NVIDIA’s chips in China harms USA’s AI growth more than it helps.
In the past few months, reports have suggested that Huang and NVIDIA are closely working with the Trump administration. At the Washington conference last week, NVIDIA’s chief praised the former President’s energy and manufacturing policies and even ended his speech with, “Thanks for making America great again.”
Whether China surges ahead or stays “nanoseconds behind,” NVIDIA’s role in making the U.S. big in the AI race is definitely something Huang believes in. Since Trump is quite vocal about how he deals with tech giants and their leaders personally, it will be interesting to see how he comments on a public platform about Huang’s remarks from yesterday.
