Nvidia CEO Mum on Export Licenses, Calls for Fewer Controls
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang made the case last week for fewer export controls on the company’s chips, saying the U.S. government should allow Nvidia to “compete” in the Chinese market. He also avoided directly answering whether the company’s export license applications for China are being granted, despite the Trump administration announcing earlier this year that it planned to approve exports of Nvidia’s H20 chips in exchange for a cut of the sales revenue (see 2508220003).
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When asked whether he’s seeing “those licenses coming,” Huang said only: Commerce “Secretary [Howard] Lutnick was all over it.”
An Nvidia spokesperson on Sept. 26 pointed to Nvidia's most recent earnings call, in which CFO Colette Kress said that a "select number of our China-based customers have received licenses over the past few weeks" but the company has "not notched any H20 based on those licenses." Kress also noted that the U.S. hasn't yet "published a regulation" outlining how Nvidia will pay the government the 15% cut of its sales revenue from those exported chips.
Speaking on a podcast hosted by the founder of technology investment firm Altimeter, Huang advocated for a less stringent export control approach and criticized the Biden administration’s “small-yard, high-fence” strategy -- the idea of placing strict licensing rules around a small portion of advanced technologies.
“I think President Trump's got it right that we want to maximize exports,” Huang said. “We want to maximize American influence around the world.”
Huang said the U.S. needs looser trade regulations around chip exports. It must “enable our technology industry,” not restrict it. “We have to acknowledge it is our national treasure. It is our best industry. It is our single best industry,” Huang said. “Why would we not allow this industry to go compete for its survival?”
Huang said there are “a lot of discussions going on” about this issue between Washington and Beijing. The U.S. should want its products to be exported to other countries so that they build their systems on American technology, which will "maximize" America’s economic growth and “geopolitical influence.”
He also said he disagrees with the arguments that China can “never” build its own advanced AI chip or that China is two to three years behind the U.S. technologically. “Come on. They're nanoseconds behind us,” Huang said. “So we've got to go compete.”
“I think it's in the best interest of both countries that we are there,” Huang said of Nvidia selling to China. He believes “these things will get sorted out, and we will have the opportunity to go compete in that China market.”
Asked to respond to “skeptics” who believe Huang is advocating for more chip sales only to boost Nvidia’s profits, he said: “Just because I want America’s ecosystem and economy to grow, it doesn't make me wrong.”
“I believe that it is in the best interest of China that Nvidia is able to serve that market and compete in that market. I fundamentally believe it is in the best interest of China. It is, of course, a fantastic interest of the United States,” he said. “Those two truths can coexist.”
Former national security officials, policy analysts and some lawmakers have criticized the Trump administration’s plan to allow H20 sales to China and have urged the government to step up its restrictions, saying they’re concerned the U.S. is making national security concessions in exchange for a trade deal and warning that the chips could aid China’s military (see 2507280012, 2509050036, 2509040023 and 2508150034).