Jensen Huang: Nvidia’s AI hardware market share in China is down to 0%

In an interview with the channel Special Competitive Studies Project, broadcast over the weekend, Mr. Huang said Nvidia’s AI hardware market share in China is currently down to 0%. This is considered a shocking number because just two years ago, the company still held nearly 70% of the market share here.

Nvidia CEO frankly said that the US’s imposition of trade barriers has caused negative strategic consequences. First, abandoning a market the size of China does not make strategic sense. He believes that current regulations need to be dynamic and change over time instead of remaining stagnant. The withdrawal of American companies unintentionally accelerates China’s process of self-reliance.

In January, analysis company Bernstein forecast that Nvidia’s market share in China would decrease from 66% to 8% in the coming months. However, according to Mr. Huang, they actually bottomed out earlier than expected. Despite the lack of leading GPUs and software from the US, China is still a strong competitor in the AI ​​field due to its advantage of cheap energy prices and a huge pool of mathematical and scientific talent. He called the number of AI researchers in China a “national treasure”.

Theo Tom’s HarwareChinese developers are gradually switching to using domestic hardware from names like Huawei, Cambricon or Moore Threads. The final hurdle these companies need to overcome is software, like Nvidia’s Cuda platform, which has helped American technology dominate in recent times.

Mr. Huang believes that long-term leadership lies not in limiting global competitors, but in ensuring that the US AI ecosystem dominates worldwide. Tightening exports could inhibit America’s own AI deployment, while China is embracing the technology aggressively and viewing artificial intelligence as an economic development tool.