Technology
Nvidia CEO Huang announces accelerated return to China following export easing
Nvidia plans a rapid resumption of its chip deliveries to Chinese customers following US concessions.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang announced in Beijing the "acceleration" of resuming business in China after a relaxation in the trade dispute between Washington and Beijing makes the export of the H20 processor, developed for the Chinese market, possible again. The necessary export licenses from the U.S. are still pending, "but will be granted very soon," said Huang at a press conference.
As recently as April, Nvidia had reported a write-down of USD 4.5 billion because the Trump administration had banned the export of high-performance chips to the People's Republic. Huang now emphasized that some of the written-off stocks would "not be permanently written off" and could be reactivated with appropriate customer orders. However, restarting the supply chain would take nine months.
During his stay in Beijing, Huang met with government officials and publicly praised China's role as a manufacturing hub as well as the progress of local AI companies like DeepSeek and Alibaba. In conversations with journalists, he emphasized that it was not his personal persuasion that led to the policy change in Washington. Rather, the relaxations were the result of direct negotiations between the governments in Geneva and London.
Export controls as a pillar of national security and global trade will remain," said Huang. Nonetheless, the reapproval of deliveries is an "important success" for Nvidia. Huang had lobbied massively in Washington and warned of a loss of significance for the US AI industry should access to the Chinese market remain blocked in the long term.
Parallel, Nvidia presented a new GPU on Tuesday, which was specifically developed for the Chinese market and is fully export-compliant. The new product is particularly suitable for automated manufacturing processes, emphasized Huang.
Industry analysts like Stacy Rasgon from Bernstein see the U.S. authorities' reversal as a crucial support for Nvidia's future profitability. The decision secures the company's dominant position in China and thereby also its ecosystem advantages.
Despite the Reduced Performance of the H20 and Growing Competition from Chinese Providers, Major Internet Companies like Alibaba, Tencent, and Baidu Still Rely on Nvidia, According to Jefferies Analysts.
Analysts expect that the relaxed export regulations will significantly accelerate the expansion of AI solutions in various industries – from fintech to education to the automotive industry.
