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Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Backs Trump’s Plan to Ease AI Chip Export Curbs

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Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has strongly criticized U.S. export restrictions on AI chips to China, calling them a “failure” that cost American firms billions in lost sales while accelerating China’s self-reliance in semiconductor development. Speaking at the Computex conference in Taipei, Huang welcomed the Trump administration’s decision to reverse some of the Biden-era controls, signaling a shift that could reshape global tech policy.

“The fundamental assumptions that led to the AI diffusion rule have been proven to be fundamentally flawed,” Huang said, referring to the Biden administration’s three-tiered export control regime, which entirely blocked sales of advanced chips to China.

Impact on Nvidia and U.S. Industry

Since the Biden administration’s controls came into effect, Nvidia’s market share in China fell from 95% to 50%, Huang revealed. Nvidia has been hit particularly hard, taking a $5.5 billion charge in April related to its blocked H20 chip, and Huang now estimates total revenue loss at $15 billion.

Despite these setbacks, Huang noted that AI research in China has continued unabated and is now being powered by local technologies, particularly chips from Huawei and other Chinese semiconductor designers. He estimated that China’s AI market will be worth $50 billion in 2025 and called the competition there “intense”.

“They would love for us never to go back to China,” he said.

Trump’s Strategy: A Shift in Direction

Huang praised the Trump administration’s plan to move away from rigid export tiers and toward a global licensing regime based on government-to-government agreements. The proposed shift could provide the U.S. more flexibility and leverage in trade negotiations while also easing pressure on U.S. tech firms.

“President Trump realises it’s exactly the wrong goal,” Huang said, arguing that isolating China from U.S. tech would not stop AI innovation and only encourage the growth of competitive alternatives.

Nvidia’s Workaround

Nvidia is now developing a new version of its Blackwell AI chip that includes slower memory, allowing it to comply with current U.S. restrictions while still serving key markets.

Rising Tensions

China responded sharply to recent U.S. moves that warned firms against using Chinese-made AI chips like Huawei’s Ascend, urging the U.S. to “immediately correct its wrongdoings.” Beijing warned that such measures violate trade agreements and undermine cooperation, threatening “resolute” countermeasures.

Industry Outlook

While the Biden administration had aimed to contain China’s semiconductor and military advancements, the unintended consequence appears to be a rapid buildup of China’s domestic AI and chipmaking capabilities. Huang’s remarks underscore the growing frustration within U.S. tech circles over policies they say are self-damaging.

Meanwhile, Nvidia continues to dominate the global AI infrastructure market, with new product announcements at Computex expected to further boost its $130.5 billion revenue base.

Nvidia Unveils New Robotics, Gaming Chips, and Toyota Deal at CES 2025

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At CES 2025, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang revealed several groundbreaking products, showcasing the company’s ambitions to expand its business across robotics, gaming, and automotive technology. The announcements highlighted innovations in AI, gaming chips, and collaborations, including a new deal with Toyota.

One of the key highlights was the introduction of Nvidia’s Cosmos foundation models, which use artificial intelligence to generate photo-realistic video for robot and self-driving car training. By creating “synthetic” training data, these models simulate physical environments much more affordably than traditional data collection methods. Unlike the typical approach of placing cars on the road or having humans demonstrate tasks, Cosmos can generate videos based on a text description, adhering to the laws of physics. The models will be made available on an “open license,” much like Meta Platforms’ Llama 3 language models, which have seen widespread use in the tech industry. Huang expressed hopes that Cosmos could revolutionize robotics and industrial AI similarly to the impact Llama 3 has had on enterprise AI.

Despite the excitement, analysts, including Vivek Arya from Bank of America, raised concerns about whether the new robotics technology would substantially boost Nvidia’s sales. Arya questioned the challenge of making the products both reliable and affordable enough to create viable business models, similar to the niche opportunities of autonomous vehicles or the metaverse.

In addition to robotics, Nvidia unveiled new gaming chips, part of the RTX 50 series, that use Nvidia’s Blackwell AI technology. These chips aim to enhance gaming graphics, particularly through ‘shaders’ that add realistic imperfections to objects in video games, such as fingerprint smudges on surfaces. The new chips are also designed to improve the realism of human faces, which is a critical area of focus for developers. Prices for the chips range from $549 to $1,999, with the high-end models set to launch on January 30, followed by lower-tier models in February. Analysts, including Ben Bajarin of Creative Strategies, expect these chips to drive short-term sales growth for Nvidia.

Nvidia also debuted its first desktop computer, Project DIGITS, which is designed for software developers rather than regular consumers. Priced at $3,000, the computer runs on Nvidia’s Linux-based operating system and includes the same AI chip used in the company’s data center products. The desktop, which features a central processor co-designed with Taiwan’s MediaTek, is expected to help individual developers quickly test their AI systems. Project DIGITS will be available in March.

Additionally, Huang announced that Toyota Motor will integrate Nvidia’s Orin chips and automotive operating system into several of its models to power advanced driver assistance features. Although the company did not specify which models would feature the technology, the partnership signifies a growing presence in the automotive sector. Nvidia projects automotive hardware and software revenue will reach $5 billion by fiscal 2026, up from an expected $4 billion in the current year.

Nvidia’s stock surged to a record high of $149.43, increasing its market valuation to $3.66 trillion, making it the second-most valuable listed company in the world, behind Apple.