Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang backtracks after saying China will win AI race

[APEC Summit Takes Place In South Korea]
Ezra Acayan/Getty Images News

Nvidia (NVDA [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/NVDA]) CEO Jensen Huang has backtracked from his recent statement that China will win the AI race, instead saying that China is "nanoseconds" behind the U.S.

"China is going to win the AI race," Huang told the _Financial Times _on the sidelines of an event on Wednesday, pointing to lower energy costs and looser AI regulations in China.

Huang told _FT _that the West was being held back by cynicism. "We need more optimism," he added.

Nvidia (NVDA [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/NVDA]) later posted a clarifying statement from Huang on X. "As I have long said, China is nanoseconds behind America in AI," the statement read [https://x.com/nvidianewsroom/status/1986221177099194484]. "It's vital that America wins by racing ahead and winning developers worldwide."

Huang last month said the U.S. can dominate the AI race if the world relies on Nvidia's (NVDA [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/NVDA]) systems.

"We want America to win this AI race," the CEO said while addressing the Nvidia developers' conference last month. "We want the world to be built on American tech stack."

"But we also need to be in China to win their developers. A policy that causes America to lose half of the world's AI developers is not beneficial long term, it hurts us more," he added.

Beijing has increasingly shut [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4503199-china-tighten-customs-checks-nvidia-ai-chips] Nvidia's (NVDA [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/NVDA]) chips out of the market, and is encouraging companies to source chips locally.

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