Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang returned to China this week. A first in four years. He visited Nvidia’s local offices in Shenzhen, Shanghai and Beijing, Bloomberg reported.
According to the agency, Jensen Huang wore traditional Chinese clothing and danced with employees as part of the start of the New Year festivities. “It is unclear whether he met with other executives,” a Chinese official said at Bloomberg.
Nvidia declined to provide further details about the mysterious trip, saying only that “CEO Jensen Huang celebrated Chinese New Year with employees.”
China and other Asian regions account for 20-25% of Nvidia’s overall data center revenue
Industry observers note, however, that Huang’s visit comes at a time when the United States is tightening restrictions on semiconductor exports to China. In September 2022, the United States had already banned the export to China of Nvidia’s high-performance AI semiconductors, including the A100 and H100 models. They feared that these products could be used for military purposes by China.
In response, Nvidia has supplied China with substitutes that significantly reduce the performance of the original products, but the United States banned the sale of these products in October last year.
In recent quarters, China and other Asian regions have accounted for 20-25% of Nvidia’s overall data center revenue. China is therefore one of Nvidia’s main markets.
CEO Jensen Huang therefore continues to express his commitment to growing the Chinese market, saying at a press conference in Singapore late last year that “our plan is to work with the U.S. government to create new products that comply with the new regulations.
To go further on the AI war between China and the United States
Source: “ZDNet Korea”