Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has called China’s open-source artificial intelligence a “catalyst for global progress” and says it is “revolutionising” supply chains.
In a speech during Wednesday’s opening ceremony of the China International Supply Chain Expo in Beijing, Huang – whose firm last week became the first to touch $4 trillion in market value – hailed China’s role in pioneering AI, describing Chinese AI startup DeepSeek as “giving every country and industry a chance to join the AI revolution”.
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Huang made the comments a day after Nvidia announced it will resume sales of its H20 AI chips to China after the United States government pledged to remove licensing restrictions that had halted exports.
“AI is transforming every industry from scientific research and healthcare to energy, transportation and logistics,” said Huang, who also praised China’s “super-fast” innovation, powered by its “researchers, developers and entrepreneurs”.
The California-based company produces some of the world’s most advanced semiconductors but cannot ship its most cutting-edge chips to China due to Washington’s concerns that Beijing could use them to enhance its military capabilities.
Nvidia developed the H20 – a less powerful version of its AI processing units – specifically for export to China. However, that plan stalled when US President Donald Trump’s administration tightened export licensing requirements in April.
“Huang says he’s now free to sell to the Chinese market thanks to negotiations with China on trade,” Al Jazeera’s Katrina Yu said, reporting from Beijing. “The Trump administration has confirmed that in exchange for rare earths, it will allow the chip to now be sold into China.”
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“The US government has assured Nvidia that licenses will be granted, and Nvidia hopes to start deliveries soon,” the company said in a statement on Tuesday, adding that it was “filing applications to sell the Nvidia H20 GPU again”.
Nvidia has also announced it is developing a new chip for Chinese clients called the RTX Pro GPU, which would also be compliant with US export restrictions.
The announcement from Nvidia boosted tech firm stocks around the world with Wall Street’s Nasdaq Composite index rising to another record high and stocks in Hong Kong also rallying.
The tightened US export curbs were imposed as China’s economy wavers. Domestic consumers are reluctant to spend, and a prolonged property sector crisis is weighing on growth.
President Xi Jinping has called for greater self-reliance in the face of increasing external uncertainty.
“China is really fashioning itself as a champion for free trade and this global supply chain expo is about positioning China as a crucial part of that global logistic infrastructure,” Yu said. “Beijing is trying to make a statement, and that statement is unlike the Trump administration would have the world believe – China is not replaceable” as evidenced by the roughly 650 companies from 60 countries represented at the expo.
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