Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang warns US chip bans helped China flourish

In a stark warning to Washington policymakers, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang revealed that U.S. technology export bans may be triggering unintended consequences, declaring that China already has “all the chips they need” while state-backed rival Huawei is actively “flourishing in our absence.”

“Critics would say that selling advanced chips to China helps China close the gap and perhaps beat the U.S. in AI,” FOX Business host Maria Bartiromo told Huang, “and yet the other angle is the fact that if we block all sales, then China does it anyway, simply accelerating the growth coming out of companies like Huawei.”

“You’ve summarized it really well… The president would like us to win in every aspect,” Huang responded. “The United States has to be absolutely certain and determined to lead the world in every aspect, every layer of that five-layer cake, from energy, of course, from chips.”

“China obviously has all the chips they need. That’s the reason why they don’t need ours. And Huawei has done a very good job there, obviously, one of the largest companies in the world. They had a record year. They’re flourishing in our absence. And they’re now exporting their technology out to the rest of the world, competing with American companies around the world,” he continued.

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“And so I think that their ability to secure technology for their national security reasons, I think they have more than ample… for their own needs.”

Nvidia founder and CEO, Jensen Huang, speaks during the 29th annual Milken Institute Global Conference on May 4, 2026.  (Getty Images)

The tech pioneer’s admission exposes a critical national security dilemma: instead of crippling Beijing’s capabilities, aggressive decoupling has forced the communist regime into tech self-sufficiency, turning domestic competitors into a global threat to American industry.

Huang’s comments come on the heels of his recent trip with the president to Beijing, and the U.S. government officially approving licenses for Nvidia’s advanced H200 chips for select Chinese clients.

“[President Trump’s] been very clear that he would like American companies to win around the world. Winning around the world allows us to, one, export, generate revenues for the country, bring back tax dollars for the country, create jobs in America,” Huang said. “It allows us also to diffuse and spread the American technology stack around the world, so that the rest of the world can be built on top of American technology and…