Tech war: Nvidia CEO 'surprised' by Beijing's move to question the security of H20 AI chips

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said he was surprised by Beijing's questioning of the security of its H20 artificial intelligence chips and that it would be up to the US government to decide whether the company can produce a new product for the Chinese market.

Huang made the comments during a visit to Taiwan on Friday, where he had meetings scheduled with top executives from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the silicon foundry that makes Nvidia's chips.

Separately, US tech media outlet The Information reported that Nvidia had instructed component suppliers, including Samsung Electronics and Amkor Technology, to stop production related to the H20 after Beijing's move to dissuade Chinese companies from buying the chips.

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Huang said Nvidia was "surprised" by the doubts from China about the H20 as "they've requested and urged us to secure licenses for the H20 for some time and I've worked quite hard to help them secure the licences".

The Nvidia logo is displayed on a building in Taipei, Taiwan, April 16, 2025. Photo: Reuters alt=The Nvidia logo is displayed on a building in Taipei, Taiwan, April 16, 2025. Photo: Reuters>

The Chinese concerns about the security of the H20 chips, which were tailored-made for the Chinese market to comply with Washington's export restrictions, were partly based on proposals by some US lawmakers that AI chips exported to China should have tracking features.

Meanwhile, there are growing signs that China may be close to pulling off home-grown AI stacking that could replace Nvidia's products. On Thursday, Chinese artificial intelligence start-up DeepSeek said the country would soon have home-grown "next-generation" chips for AI stacking, fanning speculation over breakthroughs that may have been achieved.

On Friday, Huang reiterated the company's line that the H20 had no back doors. "There's no such thing and there never has [been]," Huang told reporters.

"Shipping H20 to China is not a national security concern. It's great for America and is great for the Chinese market," Huang said, adding that demand for the chips from Chinese customers was "quite great".

Regarding any new Nvidia chip designed for China, Huang said it would be decided by Washington. "That's not our decision to make - it's up to the US government," he said. "We are in dialogue with them, but it's too soon to know."

Story Continues

The Cyberspace Administration of China, the powerful agency in charge of network security, said in a statement on July 31 that it had summoned Nvidia to ask about potential "back doors" in the H20 chips. The concern was further amplified by state media outlets, with a China Central Television affiliate calling H20 chips "neither environmentally friendly nor advanced or safe".

According to industry sources and media reports, China's tech firms have been dissuaded by the country's regulators from purchasing H20 chips. Tencent Holdings president Martin Lau Chi-ping told a conference call last week that the company was taking a wait-and-see stance on chip imports but that it had sufficient inventory to train AI models.

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2025 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

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