Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang warns Chinese AI advancement on Huawei chips threatens US dominance

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang expressed concern that China could surpass the United States in artificial intelligence development if future AI models are optimized using Chinese technology standards. Speaking on the Dwarkesh Podcast on Wednesday, Huang warned that DeepSeek AI models running on Huawei chips would be 'horrible' for US interests. He noted China's advantages include abundant energy resources and a large pool of researchers. The conversation occurred ahead of DeepSeek's anticipated V4 foundation model launch later this month. According to The Information, V4 will operate on Huawei's latest Ascend 950PR processor, while Reuters reported the model was trained on Nvidia's Blackwell chips—potentially violating US export controls. DeepSeek's previous V3 model, released in late 2024, utilized 2,048 Nvidia H800 graphics processing units based on older Hopper technology. These H800 chips were specifically designed for the Chinese market to bypass export restrictions but were banned from sale to China in 2023. Regulatory easing under the Trump administration allowed Nvidia to resume production of the more powerful H200 chip for Chinese sales, as Huang confirmed in March. The potential shift to Huawei hardware could accelerate China's AI capabilities.