Nvidia CEO: “China is not behind the U.S. in AI”

For over two years, Western media has pushed the narrative that China is trailing the U.S. in AI—and that the U.S. holds the lead in AI supremacy, thanks to OpenAI, ChatGPT, and a wave of homegrown breakthroughs. But Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang challenged that assumption today.

Speaking with CNBC’s Emily Wilkins during his visit to Capitol Hill, Huang was asked whether China is falling behind the U.S. in AI. His response?

“China is not behind anybody. China is right behind us.”

His remarks come as Chinese AI firms are making headlines of their own. In January, China-based DeepSeek overtook ChatGPT on the App Store, sending shockwaves through tech stocks. The buzz surged after CNBC reported that DeepSeek’s V3 model outperformed Meta’s Llama 3.1, OpenAI’s GPT-4o, and Alibaba’s Qwen 2.5 on third-party benchmarks—all while operating at a significantly lower cost.

“China is not behind the U.S. in AI,” Nvidia CEO Says

Huang spoke during a packed day of high-level meetings on Capitol Hill, where top tech CEOs met with lawmakers to discuss AI regulation and trade tensions. AI policy and tariffs dominated the agenda, with pressure building on the U.S. to maintain its lead in a field where the margin is getting thinner.

When asked about Huawei—China’s flagship tech giant—Huang didn’t downplay the competition.

“There’s no question that Huawei is one of the most formidable technology companies in the world… they’ve made enormous progress in the last several years,” he said. Huang pointed to their strength in computing, networking, and software, all critical to AI.

He also highlighted the size and depth of China’s talent pool. “50% of the world’s AI researchers are Chinese,” he said. “This is an industry that we will have to compete for.”

According to Huang, this isn’t a race with a finish line. “This is an infinite race. There’s no two-minute end of the quarter. There’s no such thing.”

The backdrop to this conversation is a tense one. The U.S. has been tightening export restrictions on AI chips, hitting Nvidia directly. Meanwhile, China has been ramping up efforts to catch up—or, as Huang suggests, to stay close behind.

Huang is expected to meet with White House officials later today to continue talks on AI, tariffs, and the role U.S. companies can play in keeping innovation onshore.

For Nvidia, the balance is delicate: the company is firmly rooted in the U.S., but China remains one of its biggest markets.

Whether Washington takes Huang’s message as a warning—or a push to act—remains to be seen.

Below is the video of Huang’s interview with CNBC.