Nvidia's Huang downplays concerns over selling AI chips to Beijing: It has 'plenty' of its own

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang doesn't bargain the nationalist information concerns implicit his steadfast selling its astir precocious semiconductors to China, claiming collaboration is successful everyone's champion interest.

Speaking to reporters successful South Korea, Huang said helium volition support campaigning for entree to the Chinese marketplace and is "optimistic" the state volition proceed to privation U.S. chips arsenic it positions itself arsenic an AI leader.

"The mode to deliberation astir the China marketplace is, it's a singular, vital, important, dynamic market, and cipher tin regenerate that," helium said.

"It's successful the champion involvement of America to service that China market. It's successful the champion involvement of China to person the American exertion institution bring ... exertion to the China marketplace ... It's successful the champion involvement of some countries, and I anticipation that policymakers volition yet travel to that conclusion."

His comments travel amid U.S. export curbs that restrict Chinese firms from buying precocious semiconductors utilized successful the improvement of AI.

President Donald Trump said Thursday that helium had discussed the export of Nvidia chips with Chinese President Xi Jinping erstwhile the leaders met, but the discussions did not screen the astir precocious Blackwell graphics processing units. "I said that's truly betwixt [China] and Nvidia, but we're benignant of the arbitrator," Trump said aft the meeting.

The U.S. says its spot curbs are designed to restrict some China's "access to the technologies and quality to nutrient precocious chips" and curtail its entree to "related computing and AI applications."

But Huang indicated these concerns are misplaced.

"China makes plentifulness of AI chips themselves, and the Chinese subject surely person plentifulness of entree to chips that are created successful China. So, immoderate nationalist information concerns, person to instrumentality into information the information that China has blocked H20 [an Nvidia chip] and, so, successful a batch of ways, China is saying that, 'listen, we person plentifulness of AI exertion ourselves'," Huang told CNBC's Eunice Yoon connected Friday.

"And truthful the nationalist information concern, from that perspective, I think, is truly answered by the information that China doesn't privation H20 oregon immoderate American chips."

Chinese telecoms elephantine Huawei is besides astatine the halfway of tech tensions betwixt the U.S. and China.

The national usage of Huawei products is banned successful the U.S. implicit fears they could beryllium utilized for spying by the Chinese government, portion U.S. firms are besides restricted from doing concern with the firm. The bans came into unit nether Trump's archetypal term.

Huang said Nvidia is "miles ahead" successful the chips race, but stressed, "it is foolish to underestimate the mightiness of China and the incredible, competitory tone of Huawei."

"This is simply a institution with bonzer technology. They predominate the world's 5G telecommunication standards and technology. They physique astonishing smartphones, they physique astonishing chips, they're unthinkable astatine networking and truthful erstwhile they announced CloudMatrix, I was not amazed that they were capable to make specified an astonishing thing," Huang said, referring to Huawei's large-scale AI supercomputing system.

"It's profoundly uninformed to deliberation that Huawei can't physique systems. We instrumentality contention precise seriously. We respect the competition, we respect profoundly the capabilities of China. That's wherefore we tally truthful fast, and that's wherefore we dedicate ourselves to inventing the aboriginal truthful we tin get determination earlier anybody else," helium added.

— CNBC's Eunice Yoon, Spencer Kimball and Arjun Kharpal contributed to reporting.