Faisal Islam, Jensen Huang: Nvidia Chief on China Chip Export Bans
Nvidia lost about 4% of its value on Monday as chief Jensen Huang faces an investigation. In an interview with Faisal Islam, Huang said the AI chip race is not a zero-sum game and that Trump understands his case on China exports.
Nvidia lost about 4% of its value on Monday as its leader, Jensen Huang, faces an investigation over an affair with an alleged Chinese spy. An interview Huang gave to Faisal Islam shows how hard he lobbied to sell advanced AI chips to China.
Islam wrote that the investigation is a new and extraordinary risk at the point where technology meets global politics. Nvidia is the centre of the US AI boom and of the global race for AI supremacy, he said.
The export ban argument
Islam met Huang during US President Donald Trump's state visit to the UK. Huang was then trying to persuade Trump to lift export bans on some of the highest-performing AI chips sold to China, specifically the H200.
An export ban on a less powerful chip had already been lifted. Huang made no secret of his views, Islam wrote, or of his belief that he had won Trump over.
"The advance of human society is not a zero-sum game," Huang said. He argued that Trump wants America to win, President Xi Jinping wants China to win, and both can be satisfied.
National security objections
Many in national security circles disagree. They see the race to the most advanced AI as entirely zero-sum, Islam wrote, and want the West, the US in particular, to hold back Chinese progress.
Their reasoning is that whoever builds the most powerful systems on the most powerful chips will win on scientific development, cracking encryption, economic growth and cyber-weapons.
Huang made a further case. He said it was better for the US if the world, "including China", depended on US systems, which he called the American tech stack, with Nvidia chips at its core.
He said Trump was "very clear-eyed" that this computing technology is not a national security concern. Huang added that "any military is smart enough to build their military on top of their own indigenous technology, and not rely on an adversary".
Why the timing matters
Islam noted that the interview took place at the same moment now being independently investigated over national security concerns and alleged Chinese espionage. Huang was arguing publicly for lifting the bans and appeared to know Trump's views. He was also disputing that his technology in Chinese hands posed any security threat.
Nvidia's chips, with names such as Gracehopper, Vera and Rubin, power the creation of the AI models now reshaping the economy. Islam wrote that the company has actual hard revenues of about $400bn this year.
Even if the AI boom turned to bust, he added, Nvidia is still expected to remain in rude health.
