\n It\u2019s further complicated Nvidia\u2019s relationship with China, where it was doing roughly 25% of its graphics processing unit sales, estimates Gil Luria, head of technology research at D.A. Davidson. Nvidia\u2019s popularity has also embroiled the company in a steep controversy for potentially allowing China to skirt around export restrictions as trade tensions continue.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cNvidia has gotten caught in the middle of two very important things: a trade dispute between China and the United States \u2026 but more importantly, AI has become a matter of national security,\u201d Luria said.\n <\/p>\n
\n Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has argued that restricting sales of American AI chips will ultimately enable Chinese developers to create their own alternatives.\n <\/p>\n
\n Huang, 62, was born in Taiwan, and at age 9 was sent by his parents to live in Tacoma, Washington. In 1993, the Oregon State and Stanford University grad co-founded Nvidia, which started as a graphics-based processing company.\n <\/p>\n
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\n Huang \u2014 who is worth $167 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index \u2014 has been treated as a rockstar<\/a> in Taiwan for his success in the AI chips race, and previously worked as a microprocessor designer at now-competitor AMD.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIt\u2019s really unusual to have somebody who can go from starting what was at the time a very small tech startup and throw it to the extraordinary level of success that Nvidia has grown to,\u201d John Villasenor, a nonresident senior fellow at Brookings Institution and professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, said of Huang.\n <\/p>\n \n Nvidia powers the data centers that support AI technology and has been the go-to provider of those chips.\n <\/p>\n \n Nvidia essentially created the architecture for anyone who develops AI, leading to a surge in demand for its technology, according to Arun Sundararajan, a professor of technology, operations and statistics at NYU Stern School of Business.\n <\/p>\n \n The company said in September that it would invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI<\/a> and provide it with data center chips as soon as late 2026.\n <\/p>\n \n Nvidia is competing with AMD for deals with partners like OpenAI, which said Monday it would use 6 gigawatts of AMD chips<\/a> to power OpenAI\u2019s data centers.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe competition has undeniably arrived. Customers will choose the best technology stack for running the world\u2019s most popular commercial applications and open-source models. We\u2019ll continue to work to earn the trust and support of mainstream developers everywhere,\u201d an Nvidia spokesperson said in a statement shared with CNN.\n <\/p>\n \n In recent years, the US government has sought to restrict Chinese access<\/a> to American technology to slow Beijing\u2019s progress on AI, thus allowing the United States to take the lead. Trump continued the trend in April, when he restricted China\u2019s access to chips, including Nvidia\u2019s H20, as part of his trade war.\n <\/p>\n \n Such restrictions on the sale of chips offended China, Luria said, and ultimately led to Beijing limiting the purchase of chips to their companies.\n <\/p>\n \n But the White House recently reversed their position.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cYou want to sell the Chinese enough that their developers get addicted to the American technology stack,\u201d Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in July.\n <\/p>\n \n Trump in August greenlit sales of chips to China in an agreement with US chipmakers. Nvidia and AMD, Trump said, would give 15% of revenue from China sales to the US in exchange for export licenses<\/a>. That includes giving China access to Nvidia\u2019s H20 chips, which were released in 2024 to maintain access to the Chinese market following strict export controls<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n But Beijing seemed unimpressed<\/a> and trade tensions have only escalated since the start of a tit-for-tat trade war in April.\n <\/p>\n \n China has since increased import restrictions on US chips, including Nvidia\u2019s processors. Trump said Friday on Truth Social that he would impose a 100% tariff on China<\/a> \u201cover and above any Tariff they are currently paying\u201d beginning November 1 over export controls on rare earth minerals.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWhere this all gets resolved is unclear,\u201d Luria said, because China believes \u201cthat stopping the sale of Nvidia chips into China creates some leverage on the US in the negotiation.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Commerce Department officials are investigating whether Nvidia\u2019s customer, Singapore-based Megaspeed, is helping China sidestep export restrictions for access to Nvidia\u2019s tech, according to a report from the New York Times<\/a>. CNN has not independently verified the Times\u2019 reporting.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe have engaged with the U.S. government regarding Megaspeed, performed our own inquiry, and have not identified any reason to believe products have been diverted. NVIDIA visited multiple Megaspeed sites yet again earlier this week and confirmed what we previously observed\u2014Megaspeed is running a small commercial cloud, like many other companies throughout the world, as allowed by U.S. export control rules. The Administration\u2019s AI Action plan rightly encourages businesses worldwide to embrace U.S. standards and U.S. leadership, benefitting national and economic security,\u201d an Nvidia spokesperson told CNN.\n <\/p>\n![\"People](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ap25214437373210.jpg\")
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