Jensen Huang China Visit: “Half of the world’s AI developers are in China”

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has pushed back against growing U.S. concerns that its chips could fuel China’s military ambitions, just days before his second visit to Beijing in 2025. In an interview on CNN, Huang said, “we don’t have to worry about” China’s military using U.S.-made technology because “they simply can’t rely on it.” He argued that China already possesses substantial computing capacity and thus does not need Nvidia chips for military applications.

Huang further critiqued Washington’s export-control policies, asserting they were counterproductive to U.S. tech leadership. As he explained, “half of the world’s AI developers are in China,” and America’s tech stack must aim to become the global standard, something he believes requires openness, not restriction.

Speaking ahead of a high-stakes trip, Huang has become a lightning rod for debate in Washington. In recent weeks, Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Jim Banks (R-Ind.) warned Huang in a bipartisan letter to refrain from meeting with companies tied to the Chinese military, intelligence, or those on U.S. restricted export lists. They expressed concern that his trip might legitimize companies flouting U.S. rules or expose weaknesses in current export enforcement. In response, Nvidia emphasized its belief in setting a global standard via wide adoption of U.S. AI stacks.

A meeting with former President Donald Trump at the White House just before the China trip has added to the political tension around Huang’s visit, reflecting the U.S. government’s dual pressures regarding tech access and security.

At the heart of U.S. concern is DeepSeek, a Chinese AI startup accused by a senior U.S. official of providing assistance to China’s military and intelligence services. Reuters reports that DeepSeek used shell companies in Southeast Asia to secure Nvidia’s restricted H100 chips, purportedly bypassing export restrictions. The official also alleged DeepSeek shared U.S. user data with state entities and appears in over 150 Chinese military procurement documents.

Huang addressed the controversy, acknowledging concerns but emphasizing no verified evidence exists that DeepSeek’s open-source R1 reasoning model poses national security risks on its own. He described the model as “revolutionary” and emphasized that open-source AI tools can empower developers globally.

Despite robust growth (Nvidia reported $44.1 billion in revenue in Q1 2025, up 69% YoY), Washington’s export restrictions have crimped its China business. Huang estimated that new measures banning its H20 AI chips from China could cost the company $15 billion in lost revenue, and wiped out $5.5 billion in inventory write-downs. He criticized the AI diffusion control policy as a “fundamental failure.”

Nvidia’s China market share reportedly fell from 95% to roughly 50% due to restrictions, though the company remains committed to new product development tailored to comply with the export regulations, like a custom Blackwell-based chip for China expected in late 2025.

Tech policy expert Daniel Newman, CEO of The Futurum Group, characterized Huang’s positioning as balancing two critical objectives: avoiding friction with U.S. regulators while preserving Nvidia’s relevance in China. He noted the CEO “needs to walk a proverbial tightrope,” keeping both national governments appeased.

Newman also warned that it’s unlikely to completely dismiss the role Nvidia chips could play in military AI applications. Advanced chips like the H100 are core to most global AI training infrastructure—even those intended for defense systems.

Growing legislative concern surfaced with the introduction of the bipartisan “No Adversarial AI Act”, aimed at barring U.S. executive agencies from using AI models developed in adversarial countries, including China. DeepSeek’s reported military ties strengthened the bill’s support.

Meanwhile positive signals remain for Nvidia’s broader market: demand from regions like Saudi Arabia and the UAE continues to grow robustly. In Q1, a significant order by Saudi-backed startup Humain included 18,000 Blackwell chips, underscoring continued non-China demand.