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Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang warned that China “is going to win” the race to develop next-generation artificial intelligence, urging Washington to speed up its efforts. The head of the world’s first company to reach US$5 trillion in market value told The Financial Times that Beijing’s energy subsidies were boosting its drive to build cutting-edge semiconductors used to power AI technology developments. “China is going to win the AI race,” the British newspaper cited him as saying on Wednesday at an event in London. “As I have long said, China is nanoseconds behind America in AI,” he added in a statement posted on X by Nvidia. “It’s vital that America wins by racing ahead and winning developers worldwide.” After becoming the world’s first US$5 trillion company last week, California-based Nvidia’s market cap has receded since then to around US$4.7 trillion. Top-end Nvidia graphics processing units – used to train and power generative AI systems – are currently not sold in China because of US national security concerns and Chinese government bans. Earlier this week, the White House said it was still not interested in allowing Nvidia to sell its advanced Blackwell chips in China. The US has cited the risk of giving China a military advantage as a reason for the block. Huang has repeatedly petitioned Washington to relax its restrictions on Nvidia chip exports, saying that the policy will only help China advance its own technology. The leather jacket-clad businessman also criticised new rules on AI introduced by US states, contrasting it to the situation in China where the state is subsidising electricity to power the technology, according to The Financial Times report. Western countries, including the US and Britain, are being held back by “cynicism” over AI, Huang said. Still, experts have said that Chinese chipmakers would struggle to match Nvidia’s tech prowess before the end of the decade. Challenges include building the right software to harness the power of AI chips and upgrading essential production tools.
