Jensen Huang downplays fears over Nvidia chips being used by China's military

[midian182]

What just happened? The US has long banned the export of Nvidia's top AI chips to China, mainly due to the concern that they will be used for military purposes in the country. Team Green CEO Jensen Huang thinks it's all a fuss over nothing – because China's military can't rely on US-made technology.

Speaking during an interview with CNN, Huang addressed the issue of China using Nvidia chips for military purposes, assuring people that "we don't have to worry about it."

The US government does worry about it, though. It blocks – or requires a hard-to-obtain export licence for – high-end Nvidia GPUs when the destination is China (mainland, Hong Kong or Macau). Any GPU which has a total processing performance × interconnect speed of more than around 4,800 TB/s falls into the banned category.

The primary reason for these restrictions is the concern that China could use the chips for military applications. Huang, however, said this is unlikely because "they simply can't rely on it."

"It could be limited at any time; not to mention, there's plenty of computing capacity in China already," Huang said. "They don't need Nvidia's chips, certainly, or American tech stacks in order to build their military," he added.

Huang has long criticized America's China-focused export controls. He said in 2023 that they dealt an indirect blow to American companies, leaving them with "our hands tied behind our back" and limiting their ability to sell chips to Chinese customers.

He repeated the warnings that the restrictions could be counterproductive to America in the CNN interview. Huang said that "We want the American tech stack to be the global standard [...] in order for us to do that, we have to be in search of all the AI developers in the world." Therefore, if America wants to be an AI leader, US technology must be available in all markets, even China, Huang concluded.

Huang said in May that Nvidia's market share in China had been cut in half due to the export controls, and that the company was expected to lose billions as a result of the restrictions that were implemented in April.

Huang also gave his opinion on DeepSeek, China's AI startup that sent the industry into a tailspin when its cost-efficient R1 model launched at the start of the year. Some entities and even countries have sought to ban the app over privacy concerns. And according to a US official, DeepSeek aids China's military and intelligence operations.

But Huang said the "revolutionary" R1 reasoning model's open-source nature has allowed startups, new industries, and countries to join the AI revolution.

Also read: Nvidia's Jensen Huang applauds US trade moves and warns of China's AI advances

"The fact of the matter is, [China and the US] are competitors, but we are highly interdependent, and to the extent that we can compete and both aspire to win, it is fine to respect our competitors," the Nvidia CEO said.

Huang also believes that it doesn't matter if the chatbot that everyone uses is made in America or China.

"The question of does it really matter – no; but in a final analysis, I believe it is core to the American spirit to want to be the world's best in computing technology," he said.

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Jensen Huang downplays fears over Nvidia chips being used by China's military

 

[Megalomaniac]

There is no way China is going to stand by and allow America to control their access to AI or silicon chips.

You can bet that within the next 5 years China's PRC government will force their engineers to focus on blowing past Nvidia and America.

Their chips will be exactly like their Electric Vehicles. Superior to ours but generic in name badging.

It's some incredible combination of lunacy and racism to think America can keep up with China. They're literally cranking out software engineers.

 

[Liranan]

They're already working on this. Huawei's first gen might not be spectacular but they will improve.

 

[human7]

The export restrictions always seemed like a double edged sword to me. We can bemoan the lack of competition in the GPU space, but these export restrictions are going to create new competitors out of necessity. Whether those competitors rival Nvidia's products (or the other companies where export restrictions are live) in the next few years or not at the high end (doubtful), they will create genuine competition at least in the low, potentially mid-range end of the market, with capabilities sufficient to advance Chinese military interests. These Chinese (and Russian) companies will receive a lot of state sponsored support, too, so it's not just commercial/market forces at play here that will advance these companies forward.

In the long run, I think these policies set up the U.S. to be out-competed, or at least rivaled, by non-Western firms.

 

[AlexIL]

So let's be clear on this. We fight China instead of solving our own problems. Huawei was eating up Apple, we banned Huawei. You can't stop progress. Only decide who leads it. So far it looks grim for Apple.

 

[SRB]

There is no way China is going to stand by and allow America to control their access to AI or silicon chips.

You can bet that within the next 5 years China's PRC government will force their engineers to focus on blowing past Nvidia and America.

Their chips will be exactly like their Electric Vehicles. Superior to ours but generic in name badging.

It's some incredible combination of lunacy and racism to think America can keep up with China. They're literally cranking out software engineers.

China got where it is by copying and stealing everything it could get it's hands on. The only thing China does that the west doesn't is they play the long game while we drop everything to chase the next big thing. I first read an in depth article about how China introduced the very first sub $100 microwave oven back in the 80's. Guess what, they did it by talking Panasonic to build a plant in China, and stole the design down to having the same unneeded stamping hole in the chassis.

They use the control of their people and economy to undercut the west with their own products, while shills and fools think they did all of this through genius and hard work.

China probably already uses more Nvidia GPUs than the US. And they'll keep using them until we stop selling them, or they copy those as well. The west respects and enforces copyrights and patents. That's the reason Nvidia has the market all to itself, and if it wasn't for the repercussions to the rest of us, I'd let him feed the beast until it grows big enough to eat him and Nvidia whole.

China's electric cars are successful for only one reason, PRICE. The same reason Sears, Penny's and all of the other older mass market retailers have folded, they couldn't compete on PRICE.

And since the US won't let low price Chinese EV's in the US, EV's are much more expensive here, (and of better quality, I might add).

China is major country that is set on expansion of their territory and influence at all costs, with no rules or ethics, in it for the long term. And so far, they've made gains because they're willing to wait us out. All the while, Huang and others would happily sell us out for a buck.

 

[RaXelliX]

Oh sure mr leatherjacket. russian drones firef into Ukraine occasionally already contain Nvidia Jetson Orin module and you can bet that if war did break out over Taiwan china would use Nvidia's chips in one form or another.