Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang reportedly told members of the US Congress on Thursday that Chinese tech giant Huawei is “catching up” to the company in artificial intelligence (AI) and that US policy missteps are partly to blame.
During a closed-door meeting with the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Huang and other Nvidia executives said Huawei’s capabilities in AI chip development are reaching a level of competitiveness that could threaten Nvidia’s market dominance.
According to a senior committee staff member familiar with the discussion, Huang argued that restrictions on Nvidia’s chip exports may have inadvertently created opportunities for Huawei to strengthen its hardware offerings.
“Hey, Huawei’s getting too good at AI, and it’s partly our fault,” Huang told lawmakers in the confidential briefing, according to the source.
Policy consequences and trade restrictions
During the Biden administration, and onwards to President Trump, the US government has blacklisted Huawei over national security concerns. However, the company continues to develop its AI technology and custom chipsets tailored to Chinese markets.
The voices of Nvidia executives spell that if Chinese AI models, such as the recently developed DeepSeek R1, were trained specifically on Huawei’s chips, they could create global demand for China-produced semiconductors and render the US’s supply of AI hardware needless.
“If DeepSeek R1 had been trained on Huawei chips, or a future Chinese model optimized to them, it would create global demand for those chips,” the committee staffer said.
Speaking to reporters at a Washington technology conference held by the POTUS, Huang admitted that China is “incredible in computing and network technology.”
“They have all these essential capabilities to advance AI,” Huang continued, “they have made enormous progress in the last several years.”
When asked if China was lagging in AI, Huang reiterated that Huawei is “one of the most formidable technology companies in the world,” adding that while the US currently leads, the gap is narrow.
“We are very close. Remember this is a long-term, infinite race,” he concluded.
Nvidia hopes US policies will be less strict on Chinese market
In mid-April, Huang made a surprise visit to Eastern Asia and promised China that Nvidia would not abandon them, even with stringent US policy decisions in play. He has been asking lawmakers in Washington to step away from restricting exports and encourage companies to invest in AI domestically..
“This is an industry that we will have to compete for,” Huang told reporters. “We should focus on policies that accelerate the development of AI in the US.”
To that end, Nvidia revealed it will invest $500 billion in US-based AI systems over the next five years. In the conference held Wednesday evening, President Donald Trump praised Huang, calling him “my friend Jensen,” and welcomed the plan as a plus for America’s manufacturing industry.
Huang told attendees that Nvidia would commence the assembly of AI servers with its partner Foxconn in Houston, Texas. “With willpower and the resources of our country, I’m certain we can manufacture onshore,” he reckoned.
Samsung starts HBM3E memory production for Nvidia
Meanwhile, South Korean tech giant Samsung has commenced mass production of its advanced HBM3E 12-layer memory chips and intends to supply them to Nvidia later this year.
Originally planned for late 2024, the chip’s production was delayed due to performance issues. Now re-engineered and improved, Samsung is seeking Nvidia’s approval by June or July to start shipping the chips for use in next-generation AI products.
As of February 2025, several publications reported that Samsung is producing between 120,000 and 130,000 units per month and has restarted previously paused production equipment.
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