Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said on Wednesday that China is “not behind” in artificial intelligence, and that Huawei is “one of the most formidable technology companies in the world.” Speaking to reporters at a tech conference in Washington, D.C., Huang said China may be “right behind” the U.S. for now, but it’s a narrow gap. “We are very close,” he said. “Remember this is a long-time, infinite race.” Nvidia has become key to the world economy over the past few years as it makes the chips powering the majority of recent advanced AI applications. The company faces growing hurdles in the U.S., including tariffs and a pending Biden-era regulation that would restrict the shipment of its most advanced AI chips to many countries around the world. The Trump administration this month restricted the shipment of Nvidia’s H20 chips to China without a license. That technology, which is related to the Hopper chips used in the rest of the world, was developed to comply with previous U.S. export restrictions. Nvidia said it would take a $5.5 billion hit on the restriction. Huawei, which is on a U.S. trade blacklist, is reportedly working on an AI chip of its own for Chinese customers.

Full story : Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said “China is not behind” in artificial intelligence, and that Huawei is “one of the most formidable technology companies in the world.”