CALIFORNIA — Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has publicly labelled US chip export controls to China a failure.

Speaking at Computex, an artificial intelligence technology expo in Taiwan, Huang said the restrictions have instead accelerated the growth of China's domestic chip industry, reducing Nvidia’s market share in the country from 95% to just 50%.

Huang noted that Chinese tech firms are now more talented, resilient, and strongly backed by their government, hastening local chip development.

“Export controls only fuel their motivation and energy to develop faster,” Huang said, as quoted by CNBC on Wednesday (21/5).
Photo source: nvidia.com

Beyond losing market share, Huang admitted that Nvidia has lost billions of dollars due to the restrictions.

The company has been forced to continually adjust its chip designs to remain compliant with US regulations while also maintaining its presence in China, the largest market and home to around 50% of the world’s AI researchers.

Beijing has not remained passive. China’s Ministry of Commerce described the US policy as unilateral suppression and protectionism that disrupts the global semiconductor supply chain.

The Chinese government also warned that anyone assisting the enforcement of US export controls could be violating Chinese law.

Meanwhile, the US has recently lifted some export bans imposed under the Trump administration but continues to caution other nations against using AI chips produced by Chinese companies such as Huawei.

Huawei’s Ascend chip is considered a potential violation of US export controls if used in AI development.

In a balancing act, Nvidia continues its presence in China. Huang even made an unannounced visit to Beijing in April to discuss compliant chip designs under the latest export regulations.

During the visit, he met with senior Chinese trade officials and Liang Wenfeng, founder of DeepSeek.

Despite the growing tensions between the US and China, Huang affirmed Nvidia’s unwavering commitment to serving the Chinese market.

He also warned that the global AI race is unending — and that China is now only one step behind the US in AI technology. (EF/ZH)