Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is back in the spotlight, trying to keep both Washington and Beijing happy, no easy feat when your company makes some of the world’s most powerful AI chips. In a recent CNN interview, Huang downplayed U.S. fears that Nvidia’s tech could be used to boost China’s military. His take? China isn’t relying on American chips because it knows they could disappear at any moment.
“There’s already plenty of computing power in China,” Huang said. “They don’t need our chips to build their military.” This comes after years of U.S. policies that block companies like Nvidia from selling advanced AI chips to China. Huang thinks those restrictions are doing more harm than good. His argument: if the U.S. wants to lead in AI, its technology has to be where the talent is, and half of that talent is in China.
Of course, the tension is real. The latest chip ban (from April) is expected to cost Nvidia billions, and its market share in China has already been cut nearly in half. Still, Huang is headed back to China this week, his second trip this year, as Nvidia works on a new chip that fits within U.S. export rules.
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He has also been warned not to meet with any Chinese companies tied to military or intelligence networks. But he’s not backing down. When asked about DeepSeek, a Chinese startup reportedly using Nvidia chips to build models with military links, Huang said there’s no evidence the tech is dangerous just because it’s trained in China. He called DeepSeek’s open-source model “revolutionary.”
To Huang, it’s simple: China and the U.S. may be rivals, but they’re deeply connected. And in the race for AI dominance, cutting ties might cost more than keeping them. So, while Washington draws red lines and Beijing builds its tech stacks, Jensen Huang is playing a high-stakes game of “please everyone.” But can you lead the global AI race with one foot tied behind your back? Because if half the world’s AI talent is in China, how long can the U.S. afford to keep locking the door and throwing away the key?
So the real question? Can the U.S. win the AI race while shutting out half the field?
