If the U.S. continues to impose AI semiconductor restrictions on China, then chipmaker Huawei will take advantage of its position in the world’s second-largest economy, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told CNBC Thursday.
“Our technology is a generation ahead of theirs,” Huang told CNBC at the sidelines of the Viva Technology conference in Paris.
However, he warned that: “If the United States doesn’t want to partake, participate in China, Huawei has got China covered, and Huawei has got everybody else covered.”
In the face of U.S. export curbs that restrict Chinese firms from buying advanced semiconductors used in the development of AI, Beijing has focused on nurturing domestic firms such as Huawei in a bid to build its own AI chip ecosystem.
Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei this week told the People’s Daily Newspaper of the governing Communist party that Huawei’s single chip is still behind the U.S. by a generation.
“The United States has exaggerated Huawei’s achievements. Huawei is not that great. We have to work hard to reach their evaluation,” Ren said in comments reported by Reuters.
U.S. vs. China’s technology stack
Huang said it was crucial that AI developers around the world build on the American technology stack — or layers of technology — not that of China’s.
“If we want the American technology stack to win around the world, then giving up 50% of the world’s AI researchers is not sensible … So long as all the AI developers are in China, you know, I think [the] China stack is going to win. And so we just have to be mindful of near-term actions on long-term, unintended consequences,” he said.
Export curbs have proved something of a sore spot as trade tensions escalated between the U.S. and China. Last month, the White House said it would “aggressively revoke visas of Chinese students,” including those studying in critical fields. China also accused the U.S. of undermining trade talks after the U.S. issued an industry warning against using Chinese chips that singled out Huawei.
Huang said it’s his job to inform President Donald Trump’s administration on the nature of Nvidia’s tech and the dynamics of the industry. Trump, “knows what he’s doing. He has a game plan. I trust him, and we’ll support him the best we can,” he said.
Europe is a market of its own
The Nvidia CEO has been making waves in Europe this week, starting in London on Monday when he heaped praise on the U.K.
He told an audience that the country has “one of the richest AI communities anywhere on the planet” as he pledged investment commitments from his firm into the country.
On Thursday, Huang talked up Europe’s potential, saying France in particular has the potential to “export AI” alongside its energy exports.
“I think all the pieces of the puzzle are here. You got to take advantage of it,” he told CNBC, adding that Europe is a market all by itself, independent of China and “anything else.”
Members of the European bloc are looking to improve their position when it comes to AI developments and are reassessing their reliance on foreign technology firms for critical technology and infrastructure.
“Intelligence is the foundational layer of every industry. And so it stands to reason that long-term intelligence will be the size of the GDP of each region, and therefore, in total, the EU is going to be a very large market for AI,” Huang added.
