Nvidia’s Jensen Huang warns the US is only ‘slightly ahead’ of China in the AI race

Artificial Intelligence

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has warned that the United States is “not far ahead” of China in the global artificial intelligence race, saying the world’s two largest economies are now neck and neck across key areas such as infrastructure, AI models, and energy production.

Speaking to CNBC, Huang said China’s rapid AI expansion, particularly through open-source models from companies such as Alibaba, Baidu, and DeepSeek, is closing the gap with American tech giants. “China is well ahead of us on energy. We are way ahead on chips. They’re right there on infrastructure and AI models,” Huang noted.

While Nvidia remains the dominant chipmaker for AI systems, the CEO acknowledged China’s significant advantage in energy production, generating more than double the electricity the US did in 2024. That energy edge, Huang said, is crucial for sustaining the compute-heavy nature of AI.

Huang also pointed to the resilience of Chinese tech companies despite US trade restrictions. Huawei, for instance, continues to develop its own advanced Ascend chips, while Alibaba and Baidu have shifted to using internally designed processors for AI training.

He warned that under-regulation in China has allowed for faster adoption of AI applications, with the country targeting 70% AI penetration by 2027.

Huang called on American companies to accelerate AI adoption, arguing that the real race will be won “at the application and diffusion layer.” He added that isolating American technology could weaken the country’s global influence, saying, “If the US tech stack only serves 20% of the world, we’ve lost the AI race.”