Jensen Huang says China is ‘nanoseconds behind’ the US in chipmaking, calls for reducing US export restrictions on Nvidia's AI chips

As Chinese firms scale and U.S. export rules tighten, Nvidia is fighting to keep a foothold in China

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says China is just “nanoseconds behind” the U.S. in chipmaking and that Washington should stop trying to wall off the market.

Speaking on the BG2 podcast, Huang argued that allowing companies like Nvidia to sell into China would serve American interests by spreading U.S. technology and extending its geopolitical influence. “We’re up against a formidable, innovative, hungry, fast-moving, underregulated [competitor],” Huang said, talking about the pedigree of China’s engineers and controversial 9-9-6 working culture.

His comments come as Nvidia hopes to ship its H20 AI GPU to Chinese customers again, following a months-long pause tied to new U.S. export rules. The Commerce Department is understood to have begun issuing licenses for the H20 in August, and Nvidia is already working on a successor chip designed to comply with current restrictions while offering better performance. The company has not confirmed specs, but it would be Nvidia’s second attempt to tailor an AI accelerator specifically for the Chinese market since the original A100 and H100 bans took effect.