Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on Wednesday applauded China’s progress in artificial intelligence, calling domestic models “world class” as the U.S. chipmaker prepares to restart sales of its advanced H20 chips in the country.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of a major supply chain expo in Beijing, Huang highlighted several AI systems developed by Chinese tech leaders including DeepSeek, Alibaba, Tencent, MiniMax and Baidu. “Models like DeepSeek, Alibaba, Tencent, MiniMax, and Baidu Ernie bot are world class, developed here and shared openly [and] have spurred AI developments worldwide,” he said.
His remarks come just a day after Nvidia confirmed it expects to resume chip exports to China following guidance from Washington. The company had halted shipments in April due to tightened U.S. controls. Those restrictions significantly impacted Nvidia’s business, with Huang stating earlier that U.S. export rules had halved its market share in China and cost the company $2.5 billion in the April quarter. Losses could reach $8 billion this quarter, the firm estimates.
Huang, now on his third visit to China this year, credited over 1.5 million local developers for using Nvidia’s tools to fuel innovation. He also warned earlier this year that companies like Huawei could gain from the ongoing curbs on American chip exports.
He praised China’s open-source approach to AI development, contrasting it with closed models like those of OpenAI. “China’s open-source AI is a catalyst for global progress,” Huang said, adding it encourages cooperation and supports AI safety standards. He pointed to new releases like Moonshot’s Kimi K2, an open model that claims to outperform ChatGPT on some coding tasks.
Despite limited access to U.S. chips, Chinese tech giants continue to push forward. DeepSeek, backed by High-Flyer, stunned investors earlier this year with a cost-effective model developed despite ongoing restrictions.
Huang also credited AI with enhancing consumer apps widely used across China, including Tencent’s WeChat, Alibaba’s Taobao, ByteDance’s Douyin and Meituan’s delivery services.
Following recent trade discussions in London, Washington has begun loosening some high-tech export rules, while Beijing has resumed rare earth shipments to U.S. firms, signaling a cautious thaw in tech tensions.
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