Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang recently met with US lawmakers to express concerns over Huawei’s rapid growth in artificial intelligence (AI). The closed-door discussion with the House Foreign Affairs Committee focused on how restrictions on Nvidia’s AI chips in China might be inadvertently boosting Huawei’s competitive edge in the global AI race.
During the meeting, Nvidia executives highlighted the potential risks of Huawei’s AI chips gaining widespread adoption. A senior congressional staffer warned that if AI models like DeepSeek R1 were trained on Huawei’s hardware or if future Chinese open-source models were optimized for Huawei chips, it could create a global demand for Huawei’s AI processors.
This shift could significantly impact Nvidia’s market position, especially as the US government continues tightening export controls on AI chips.
Nvidia’s AI chips have long been central to developing advanced AI systems, including chatbots and image generators. However, US export restrictions laws—first imposed during the Trump administration—have limited Nvidia’s ability to sell its high-performance chips in China. In response, Nvidia designed China-specific chips that complied with evolving regulations.
Despite these efforts, the US government recently barred Nvidia from selling its latest China-focused chip, the H20, further complicating the company’s presence in the Chinese market.
Meanwhile, Huawei has stepped in to fill the void left by Nvidia’s constrained operations. Reports indicate that Huawei is preparing mass shipments of its own AI chips to meet growing domestic demand. This development has raised concerns among US policymakers, who fear that Huawei’s increasing dominance in AI could undermine American technological leadership.
Nvidia spokesperson John Rizzo confirmed Huang’s meeting with lawmakers, stating that the discussion emphasized the strategic importance of AI as national infrastructure and the need to invest in US manufacturing. Huang reaffirmed Nvidia’s commitment to supporting American technology and interests worldwide.