Nvidia CEO warns US of dangers surrounding Chinese chip war
Getty ImagesNvidia CEO Jensen Huang has warned the US in a new interview that China could simply begin manufacturing its own chips if sanctions continue.
A new interview in the Financial Times has the Nvidia CEO warning that the US is potentially throwing caution to the wind over its ongoing sanctions on China.
China was sanctioned by the US in 2018 after the Trump administration had security concerns over Huawei and ZTE devices. These sanctions continued and increased under the Biden administration, where it began including the semiconductor industry.
The head of Nvidia has said that these sanctions have put the company in a bind, comparing it to having their “hands tied behind our back”.
He then warns that if the US continues to prevent the Chinese market from accessing US hardware, like Nvidia’s graphics cards, it could backfire tremendously.
Nvidia CEO concerned over US sanctions on the Chinese market
NvidiaNvidia is based in California and has a vested interest in being able to sell worldwide. Its GPUs are the most popular for all purposes, including gaming and AI development. However, with China blocked, it is unable to shift units to one of its biggest territories.
If this were to continue, Huang has said that the Chinese market will simply begin developing its own hardware instead:
“If [China] can’t buy from … the United States, they’ll just build it themselves.”
Huang is concerned that if this were to happen, it could end up causing a shift within the entire paradigm of the tech industry. This would potentially cause issues with the $52 billion fund set aside by the Biden administration to build fabrication plants within the US.
Without China being able to buy US-based hardware, Jensen is wary that the US will be “swimming in fabs”.
China accounted for a fifth of Nvidia’s entire sales through its last financial year, and Nvidia is keen to see sales continue forward as such. Huang recently took a pay cut over missed sales targets in the same report.
