Nvidia Corp. Chief Executive Jensen Huang said Monday he expects Chinese regulators will ultimately allow imports of U.S. artificial intelligence chips into the country.
"The Chinese government has to decide how much of their local market do they want to protect," Huang told Bloomberg Television. "My sense is that over time the market will open."
Huang was part of a delegation of American business leaders who traveled to Beijing with President Donald Trump last week for meetings with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. According to Huang, he did not directly negotiate with Chinese officials on Nvidia's efforts to sell its H200 AI accelerators to Chinese firms, but the subject arose during conversations between officials from both countries.
Huang added: "President Trump had some conversations with the leaders and I'm looking forward to what they decide."
Trump has publicly referenced the matter as well. On Friday he said Nvidia's H200 chips "did come up, and I think something could happen on that." The president also observed that Chinese buyers had not been approved to purchase the H200 chips "because they chose not to, they want to develop their own."
In December, the U.S. government agreed to permit Nvidia to ship H200 chips to customers in China, representing a relaxation of prior measures intended to slow the transfer of advanced AI-capable semiconductors. The U.S. Commerce Department has issued licenses to allow these sales to proceed. Nonetheless, officials in Beijing have delayed approvals for Chinese companies to complete those purchases, in part reflecting a desire to achieve greater self-sufficiency in semiconductors and to bolster domestic firms such as Huawei Technologies Co.
Huang has said he views China as a potential $50 billion opportunity for Nvidia. That projection stands alongside the companys earlier statement that it expected zero sales of AI chips into China for the current period. Nvidia is scheduled to release its quarterly results on Wednesday.
Earlier this year, in March, Huang reported that Nvidia had received U.S. authorization to ship to many customers in China and that the company was preparing to ramp H200 production. According to a person familiar with the matter, Chinese companies later informed Nvidia that they were unable to complete purchases.
These developments underscore the interplay between export approvals from the United States and purchase authorizations from Chinese buyers, which together determine whether sanctioned sales ultimately move forward. The outcome of ongoing diplomatic and commercial discussions will shape how, when and to what extent U.S. AI chips reach buyers in China.