- By Prateek Levi
- Thu, 07 May 2026 10:00 AM (IST)
- Source:JND
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is making it increasingly clear where the company stands in the global AI battle. Speaking at the Milken Institute Global Conference this week, Huang backed the idea that America should stay firmly ahead when it comes to the world’s most advanced AI technology, especially chips powering the current artificial intelligence boom.
And when the conversation turned to whether China should have access to Nvidia’s most cutting-edge hardware, Huang didn’t leave much room for interpretation.
“No,” he said plainly when asked if China should get access to the “latest and greatest chips.”
The comments arrive at a time when tensions between Washington and Beijing over semiconductor exports are getting sharper, with Nvidia finding itself right in the middle of the geopolitical tug-of-war. Huang’s stance also comes shortly after the company revealed that its share of the AI accelerator market in China has effectively collapsed.
Speaking to an audience filled with investors, policymakers and business leaders, Huang argued that keeping America technologically ahead is tied directly to national strength.
“By increasing our tax revenues, we improve our economic security and [that] contributes to national security,” Huang said during the conference.
America First, But China Still Matters
While Huang supported restrictions on the highest-end AI chips, he also pushed back against the idea of completely abandoning the Chinese market. According to him, shutting American companies out of China entirely could hurt the US more in the long run.
His argument is fairly straightforward: if American tech firms continue selling globally, they stay dominant globally. More business means more revenue, more taxes, and ultimately stronger economic leverage for the US.
That balance is becoming harder to maintain as export controls tighten.
Nvidia’s newest AI platforms, including the Vera Rubin architecture, were also brought into the discussion. These next-generation chips weren’t part of earlier trade negotiations, but they are now expected to become central to future conversations around AI regulation and national security.
Nvidia’s China Business Has Taken A Massive Hit
Huang recently admitted that Nvidia’s position in China has deteriorated dramatically.
“In China, we have now dropped to zero,” he said in an interview with the Special Competitive Studies Project, as reported by Tom's Hardware.
That is a major shift considering Nvidia controlled most of the AI accelerator market in China just a couple of years ago.
“Conceding an entire market the size of China probably does not make a lot of strategic sense, so I think that has already largely backfired. Maybe it made sense at the time, but I think the policy really needs to be dynamic and needs to stay with the times,” he said.
He added, “I think it would be fairly safe to say that having American chip companies and other companies in China makes a lot of sense.”
Huang Says China Remains A Serious AI Threat
Even with restrictions on advanced US GPUs and AI software, Huang made it clear that China is still more than capable of becoming a global AI powerhouse.
“American companies win around the world. The argument there is that across the five-layer cake, there's one particular layer that is too important because in the others, China can get ahead. They have cheaper energy. They have incredible talent. So, they [have] the number of science and math experts, and as a result of that, the number of AI researchers in China is quite extraordinary, it's one of their national treasures," Huang said.
The bigger message from Huang’s appearance was that the AI race is no longer just about faster chips or bigger models. It is quickly becoming a battle over economic influence, talent, global supply chains, and long-term political power. And Nvidia, sitting at the centre of the AI boom, is trying to navigate both business and national interests at the same time.