TAIPEI: Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang said Wednesday that US export controls on artificial intelligence chips to China had failed, with companies using locally developed cutting-edge technology.
Huang said Nvidia鈥檚 share of China鈥檚 AI chip market had fallen to 50 percent from nearly 95 percent at the beginning of former president Joe Biden鈥檚 administration.
鈥淭he local companies are very, very talented and very determined, and the export control gave them the spirit, the energy and the government support to accelerate their development,鈥� Huang told reporters at Taiwan鈥檚 top tech show, Computex.
鈥淚 think, all in all, the export control was a failure,鈥� Huang said, noting companies would use the 鈥渟econd best鈥� option if they couldn鈥檛 get Nvidia鈥檚 chips.
Washington has sought in recent years to curb exports of state-of-the-art chips to China, concerned that they could be used to advance Beijing鈥檚 military systems and otherwise undermine American dominance in AI.
US President Donald Trump鈥檚 administration last week rescinded some controls, answering calls by countries that said they were being shut out from crucial technology needed to develop artificial intelligence.
Some US lawmakers feared the restrictions would have incentivised countries to go to China for AI chips, spurring the superpower鈥檚 development of state-of-the-art technology.
Nvidia and other chipmakers had lobbied against the curbs.
Huang said Nvidia had written off 鈥渕ultiple billions of dollars鈥� due to the export controls.
He said China鈥檚 AI market would be worth $50 billion in 2026, adding 鈥渋t would be a shame not to be able to enjoy that opportunity, bring home tax revenues to United States, create jobs, sustain the industry.鈥�
鈥淐hina has a vibrant technology ecosystem, and it鈥檚 very important to realize that China has 50 percent of the world鈥檚 AI researchers, and China is incredibly good at software,鈥� Huang said.
Huang also praised China-based DeepSeek, saying it had been positive for AI infrastructure and 鈥渋ncreased the amount of computing need by maybe 100 to 1000 times.鈥�
鈥淭hat鈥檚 the reason why all over the world, the AI companies are saying their GPUs are melting down,鈥� Huang said.
DeepSeek shook up the world of generative artificial intelligence with the debut of a low-cost, high-performance model that challenges the hegemony of OpenAI and other big-spending behemoths.
Several countries have questioned DeepSeek鈥檚 handling of data and believe that the secretive company may be subject to the control of the Chinese government.