Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang signaled that the company still sees China as a critical long-term growth market, even as Washington tightens export controls and Beijing accelerates efforts to build a domestic semiconductor ecosystem capable of challenging American dominance.
Speaking in Taipei on Saturday ahead of Computex, Huang said Nvidia’s projected $200 billion market opportunity for central processing units, or CPUs, includes China, underlining the company’s determination to remain deeply connected to the world’s second-largest technology market despite escalating geopolitical friction.
“I would think so,” Huang said when asked whether the forecast included China.
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The comments come at a pivotal moment for Nvidia as the artificial intelligence boom enters a new phase. For much of the generative AI surge, investors focused overwhelmingly on graphics processing units, or GPUs, the highly specialized chips that power large-language-model training. But Nvidia is now attempting to convince Wall Street that its next growth wave will come from broader AI infrastructure demand spanning CPUs, networking, inference systems, and full-stack computing platforms.
That transition is becoming increasingly important as enterprises move toward agentic AI systems capable of autonomous decision-making and task execution. Such systems require enormous amounts of computing coordination beyond GPU acceleration alone, opening a potentially massive market for advanced CPUs.
During Nvidia’s earnings call earlier this week, Huang introduced the company’s new “Vera” CPU architecture as a gateway into what he described as a $200 billion market opportunity. Vera forms part of Nvidia’s next-generation Vera Rubin platform, which combines proprietary CPU and GPU architectures into tightly integrated AI systems designed to compete more aggressively against traditional processor leaders such as Intel and Advanced Micro Devices.
The strategy marks a major evolution for Nvidia, which for years dominated the GPU market but played only a limited role in CPUs. Analysts say the company is now attempting to position itself as the operating backbone of the entire AI economy, spanning training, inference, networking, robotics, and autonomous systems.
China remains central to that vision, even as U.S.-China tensions increasingly complicate Nvidia’s operations. The Biden and Trump administrations progressively tightened restrictions on advanced AI chip exports to China, arguing that high-performance semiconductors could strengthen Beijing’s military and surveillance capabilities. Those restrictions forced Nvidia to redesign several products specifically for the Chinese market, including lower-powered variants of its flagship chips.
Huang said Nvidia has received U.S. government licenses to sell its H200 chips to China, though Chinese regulatory approvals have not yet materialized as Beijing promotes domestic semiconductor champions such as Huawei Technologies and Cambricon Technologies.
Reuters reported last week that Washington had approved roughly 10 Chinese companies to purchase H200 chips, Nvidia’s second-most-powerful AI processor. Yet no shipments have been delivered so far, illustrating the continuing uncertainty surrounding cross-border semiconductor trade.
“H200 has been licensed to ship to China. It would be terrific to be able to serve that market. The Chinese market is very important. It’s very large, of course,” Huang said.
His remarks highlight Nvidia’s delicate balancing act. The company must comply with U.S. national security rules while also protecting access to a market that analysts estimate could account for tens of billions of dollars in future AI infrastructure spending.
At the same time, Beijing is aggressively investing in semiconductor self-sufficiency. Chinese technology firms and state-backed funds have poured capital into domestic chipmakers after export restrictions exposed China’s dependence on American technology. Nvidia’s limited ability to fully participate in China’s AI expansion could ultimately accelerate the rise of local competitors.
Taiwan also featured prominently in Huang’s remarks, upholding the island’s indispensable role in global AI supply chains. Huang confirmed he would meet executives from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the world’s largest contract chipmaker and the company responsible for manufacturing many of Nvidia’s most advanced processors.
He said Nvidia is ramping production of its Vera Rubin platform, adding that the second half of the year would be “very busy” for Taiwan’s semiconductor ecosystem. The comments underscore how the AI boom continues to funnel enormous investment into Taiwan despite growing geopolitical risks surrounding the island.
Earlier this week, Advanced Micro Devices, AMD, announced plans to invest more than $10 billion in Taiwan’s AI sector to deepen manufacturing partnerships and expand assembly capacity for advanced chips.
When asked whether Nvidia planned similar investments, Huang said the company had long supported Taiwanese partners extensively, though he stopped short of announcing new capital commitments.
The trip also comes amid heightened scrutiny over AI chip smuggling and export-control enforcement. Taiwanese prosecutors said this week they were investigating three individuals suspected of illegally exporting high-end AI servers manufactured by Super Micro Computer and equipped with Nvidia chips restricted under U.S. export laws.
The investigation follows a March indictment by the U.S. Justice Department accusing three individuals linked to Super Micro, including one of its co-founders, of helping smuggle roughly $2.5 billion worth of American AI technology into China.
Huang sought to distance Nvidia from the allegations while emphasizing compliance.
“We are very rigorous in explaining laws and regulations to our partners,” he said. “Ultimately, Super Micro has to run their own company.”
The export-control issue has become increasingly sensitive as Washington attempts to prevent advanced American AI technology from reaching Chinese entities through intermediaries or gray-market channels. Analysts say enforcement challenges are likely to intensify as demand for high-end AI chips explodes globally.
For Nvidia, however, the bigger issue may be sustaining investor confidence after its meteoric rise. The company briefly became the world’s most valuable publicly traded firm this year as investors poured into AI-linked stocks.