Nvidia Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang raised the possibility of entering the Chinese market, prompting speculation that the United States' semiconductor export controls on China and Beijing's purchase restrictions could be partially eased.
According to Bloomberg on the 19th (local time), Huang, who joined U.S. President Donald Trump's business delegation to China and visited Beijing, said in a recent interview that "the Chinese government has to decide how much it wants to protect its own market," but added that "eventually the (China) market will open."
Huang has drawn a line on supplying cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China recently, but the remarks are being read as meaning he has not completely given up on the Chinese market. At the Milken Institute Global Conference on the 5th, Huang said, "China should not secure the latest AI accelerators like Blackwell or Rubin," adding, "The United States must always be ahead in the AI industry."
In an interview with CNBC, he also said, "The United States must have the first, the most, and the best technology," underscoring an America-first stance.
The H200 that Nvidia seeks to export to China is an enhanced version of the existing H100 with High Bandwidth Memory (HBM). While the U.S. government has restricted exports to China of the latest chips such as Blackwell and Rubin, it has adjusted policy to allow limited sales of the relatively lower-performance H200. In fact, President Trump partially allowed Nvidia's H200 sales to China in December last year, and the U.S. Department of Commerce has issued related export licenses.
However, the Chinese government is reportedly delaying actual purchase approvals. That is because China is accelerating the nurturing of domestic corporations such as Huawei as it strengthens its semiconductor self-reliance strategy. Huang said, "President Trump had related discussions with the Chinese leadership," expressing hope for future export prospects. Trump also recently said, "The H200 issue was discussed, and there may be some progress."
However, Jamieson Greer, the United States Trade Representative (USTR), said in a media interview during the visit to China that discussions on semiconductor export controls were not a main topic of the U.S.-China summit.
Nvidia is in no position to easily give up the Chinese market. Huang has long emphasized that the size of China's AI market could reach $50 billion (about 73 trillion won) in the long term. However, due to U.S. export controls and China's semiconductor self-reliance policy, Nvidia's market share in China's AI accelerator market has effectively fallen to "0%," and its forecast for China AI chip sales at the start of this year also remains effectively "0."
While Nvidia's export path to China has been blocked, local corporations are speeding up development of their own AI Semiconductor. Huawei, centered on its in-house AI chip "Ascend" series, is working to expand its market share in China's AI infrastructure market. The Chinese government is also reportedly encouraging local AI corporations to use domestic semiconductors instead of Nvidia.