Nvidia Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang is scheduled to host a media briefing in Beijing on 16 July, according to a company official. This marks his second visit to China this year following an April trip in which he reaffirmed the strategic importance of the Chinese market to the company.
The visit comes amid ongoing geopolitical tensions and regulatory pressure from the United States government, which since 2022 has placed restrictions on the export of Nvidia’s most advanced semiconductor technology to China, citing national security concerns related to potential military applications.
Earlier this year, the US further tightened its controls by banning the sale of Nvidia’s H20 artificial intelligence chips to China. The H20 had been the most powerful AI chip that Nvidia was still authorised to sell in the Chinese market.
Huang’s upcoming visit has attracted close scrutiny from policymakers in both the United States and China. On Friday, a bipartisan pair of US senators issued a letter to Huang urging him to avoid meetings with organisations linked to military or intelligence operations in the People’s Republic of China. The senators also advised against engaging with any entities listed on the US government’s restricted export list.
Despite intensifying competition from domestic rivals such as Huawei and other local graphics processing unit (GPU) manufacturers, Chinese technology firms continue to express strong demand for Nvidia hardware. This is largely due to the company’s proprietary CUDA computing platform, which remains foundational for many AI development frameworks.
According to Nvidia’s latest annual report, China contributed US$17 billion in revenue in the fiscal year ending 26 January, representing 13% of total company sales. Huang has repeatedly underscored the significance of the Chinese market in Nvidia’s long-term growth strategy.
Nvidia’s position in the global semiconductor landscape has continued to strengthen. Last week, the company’s market capitalisation surpassed US$4 trillion for the first time, reaffirming its role as a leading force in the race to dominate artificial intelligence technology on Wall Street.
-Reuters
