Jensen Huang: "China Will Eventually Allow Imports of U.S. AI Chips"

Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA (photo), offered an optimistic outlook, stating that he expects China to allow imports of high-performance artificial intelligence (AI) chips made in the United States. He participated in the U.S.-China summit held from May 14 to 15, but returned without any tangible results.

On May 18 (local time), in an interview with Bloomberg TV, CEO Huang stated, "The Chinese government has to decide how much it will protect its domestic market," adding, "In my view, the market will open up over time." He also noted, "I think the demand in China is quite astonishing, just like here (in the U.S.)." He joined the U.S. President Donald Trump's delegation to China for the summit at the last minute. As a result, the market had high expectations for significant progress in NVIDIA’s exports of AI chips to China.

Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA. Photo by Getty Images Yonhap News

Regarding the purpose of his visit to China, he said, "I went (to China) to support President Trump," adding, "President Trump had several conversations with the Chinese leadership, and I am looking forward to seeing what decisions will be made in the future." However, CEO Huang clarified that he did not directly discuss H200 sales with Chinese officials.

After his visit to China, President Trump also commented on the 'H200,' stating, "It was mentioned, and there may be some progress." However, he did not disclose specific details of the discussions.

The 'H200' is a chip based on the previous-generation Hopper architecture, whereas NVIDIA's current flagship product is 'Blackwell.' The H200 outperforms the H20, which had been sold to China with reduced performance for export purposes.

After the U.S.-China summit held in Busan, South Korea at the end of October last year, the Trump Administration permitted sales of the H200 to China on the condition that a 25% export fee be imposed. Subsequently, in March, CEO Huang announced that NVIDIA had received shipping approvals from many customers in China and was preparing to manufacture the H200 accordingly. He previously estimated the Chinese market to be worth 50 billion dollars.

However, according to sources, although NVIDIA received orders from Chinese companies, these companies later informed NVIDIA that they would not be able to make purchases. While the United States eased export controls, the Chinese government blocked imports of U.S. AI semiconductors in order to foster its domestic semiconductor industry. Last month, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick also confirmed that H200 exports were not taking place due to Chinese policy decisions.

NVIDIA remains highly dependent on Taiwan's TSMC, the world's largest foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturer). CEO Huang stated that he had not been involved in discussions related to Taiwan. He added, "Overall demand is so high that, even if the U.S. tries to strengthen its own semiconductor manufacturing capabilities, Taiwan will remain the center of semiconductor production."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.