The United States is "not far ahead" of China in the global artificial intelligence race, believes chipmaker Nvidia's Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang, noting that the two major economies are now nearly equal in areas such as infrastructure, AI models and energy production.
In an interview with CNBC, Huang said China's rapid progress in AI, driven by open-source models from firms like Alibaba, Baidu and DeepSeek, is narrowing the gap with US tech leaders. "China is well ahead of us on energy. We are way ahead on chips. They're right there on infrastructure and AI models," he said.
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While Nvidia continues to dominate as the top chipmaker for AI systems, Huang acknowledged China's major advantage in energy production, generating more than twice the electricity the US did in 2024, making it a critical factor for powering energy-intensive AI operations.
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He also praised the resilience of Chinese technology companies in the face of US trade restrictions. Huawei, for example, continues to develop its own advanced Ascend chips, while Alibaba and Baidu have shifted to using internally designed processors for AI training.
Huang warned that lighter regulation in China has accelerated AI adoption, with the country targeting 70% AI penetration by 2027.
He urged American companies to speed up their AI adoption efforts, saying the decisive phase of the race will occur "at the application and diffusion layer." Huang cautioned that isolating US technology could undermine its global influence, adding, "If the US tech stack only serves 20% of the world, we've lost the AI race."
The company's shares saw an uptick in recent trade after the US approved semiconductor exports worth several billion dollars to the United Arab Emirates. Shares of Nvidia were trading over 2% higher at $189.11 in the premarket, as of 5:45 p.m. IST.
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