Jensen Huang, the charismatic chief executive of Nvidia, stood before a crowd of journalists in London this week, his trademark leather jacket as much a symbol of Silicon Valley swagger as of the high-stakes drama now unfolding between the United States and China. The world’s leading chipmaker, Nvidia, finds itself at the very heart of an escalating technological and geopolitical rivalry, one that could reshape the future of artificial intelligence across the globe.
On September 17, 2025, news broke that China’s Cyberspace Administration (CAC) had issued a sweeping order: the country’s largest technology companies must immediately halt the purchase, testing, and use of Nvidia’s artificial intelligence chips specifically designed for the Chinese market. According to the Financial Times and BBC News, this directive targeted not only the widely used H20 chip but also the RTX Pro 6000D, a product tailored for China’s unique regulatory landscape.
For Nvidia, whose chips power data centers and AI systems worldwide, the move was a gut punch. Shares of the California-based company fell more than 1% in premarket trading as investors digested the implications. "We could only be in service of a market if the country wants us to," Huang told City AM in a candid interview, his disappointment unmistakable. He stressed, "The Chinese market is important, it’s large. Their technology industry is significant."
Huang’s frustration is understandable. For three decades, Nvidia has played a central role in building China’s computing backbone, supplying graphics processing units (GPUs) that have powered everything from gaming to advanced AI research. "For 30 years, we probably contributed more to the China market than most companies have," he said, reflecting on Nvidia’s longstanding presence. But the winds have shifted, and now, as Huang put it, "they have larger agendas to work out between China and the United States, and we’re patient."
Indeed, patience may be Nvidia’s only option. The current ban, as reported by both BBC News and City AM, follows a period of mounting restrictions. Earlier in 2025, Nvidia was banned from selling its most advanced chips to China, only for that ban to be briefly reversed by then-President Donald Trump in July. The reversal came with a hefty price tag: Nvidia must now pay 15% of its Chinese revenues to the US government, an unprecedented arrangement that underscores the political sensitivities at play.
But China’s latest move signals a new phase. According to sources cited by the Financial Times, several tech giants—including ByteDance, Alibaba, Tencent, and DeepSeek—had already placed substantial orders for tens of thousands of Nvidia’s AI chips and begun testing them in partnership with server suppliers. The CAC’s intervention was swift and decisive, halting these efforts in their tracks.
The rationale, at least from Beijing’s perspective, is clear. Chinese regulators recently summoned domestic chipmakers such as Cambricon and Huawei, alongside industry heavyweights Baidu and Alibaba, to assess the competitiveness of homegrown AI processors. The conclusion? Domestic chips have now reached a level of performance comparable to Nvidia’s offerings, and there is sufficient supply to meet the country’s burgeoning demand without relying on American hardware.
For Nvidia, the message is both a challenge and a warning. Huang acknowledged that after US export controls were first introduced, the company continued to sell GPUs to China, albeit with degraded performance relative to its top-tier products. "When the export controls came, we continued to sell, but they were degraded relative to the highest performance," he explained to City AM. Eventually, however, even these restricted sales were banned outright.
China’s determination to achieve self-sufficiency in AI hardware is no secret. The country has poured billions into developing its own semiconductors, seeking to break free from reliance on US technology. As Huang noted, "All countries, namely China, want AI leadership – they want to protect it for themselves." The latest ban is a bold statement that China believes it no longer needs Nvidia to fuel its AI ambitions.
Yet Huang remains an advocate for collaboration over confrontation. Speaking to BBC News, he argued, "The advance of human society is not a zero-sum game." He continued, "I think it’s safer for the world that China and the US collaborate on AI than to isolate. Fundamental truths are fundamental truths." It’s a sentiment that echoes the broader hopes of the global tech industry, even as the political reality grows ever more complex.
Amid the uncertainty, Nvidia is not standing still. In the very week of the Chinese ban, Huang was in the UK to announce a major investment in Britain’s AI infrastructure. As part of a historic tech pact between the UK and US, Nvidia will supply chips to the Stargate UK data centre in northeast England, working alongside OpenAI, Arm, and NScale. In total, Nvidia is deploying 120,000 GPUs in collaboration with British firms Nscale and Coreweave, a move that Huang declared would help make the UK an "AI superpower." The announcement comes on the heels of a £31 billion American investment package spanning AI, quantum computing, and advanced nuclear energy.
"This week, we’re here to announce that the UK is going to be an AI superpower," Huang said, his focus shifting from the challenges in China to the opportunities in Europe. It’s a reminder that, for all the geopolitical tension, the race to dominate artificial intelligence is a global one, with new alliances and rivalries forming at a dizzying pace.
Meanwhile, back in Washington and Beijing, the diplomatic dance continues. President Trump, hosting a state banquet in the UK with tech leaders like Huang and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella in attendance, has made clear that he wants America to win the AI race. "President Trump is very clear," Huang told BBC News. "He wants America to win, and President Xi wants China to win, and it’s possible for both of them to." The two leaders are expected to speak directly about the issue, though the outcome remains uncertain.
For now, Nvidia’s future in China hangs in the balance. The company’s central role in the global AI boom is unchallenged, but its access to the world’s second-largest market is in serious jeopardy. As China and the US vie for technological supremacy, companies like Nvidia find themselves caught in the crossfire—innovators one day, pawns the next.
Still, if there’s one thing that history has shown, it’s that technology rarely stands still for long. Whether through new partnerships, fresh investments, or a diplomatic breakthrough, the next chapter in the AI saga is already being written. For Jensen Huang and Nvidia, the only certainty is change—and perhaps, just a little more patience.
