TAIPEI (TVBS News) — During his visit to Taiwan, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang stated, "Taiwan is one of the most important countries in the world." This remark comes amid Huang's fifth visit to the country within a year, sparking speculation about whether this could cross red lines with China.
Since 2022, the U.S. has imposed strict restrictions on chip exports to China, affecting tech giants like NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel by prohibiting them from exporting high-tech chips. NVIDIA developed three AI chips specifically for the Chinese market to circumvent these restrictions. However, initial sales were sluggish, forcing the company to sell them at prices lower than those of competitors like Huawei.
The Chinese government has urged tech giants such as Alibaba, Baidu, TikTok's parent company ByteDance, and Tencent to purchase domestically manufactured AI chips, aiming to reduce expenditures on NVIDIA's chips, as reported by Business Insider.
China, a crucial market and a significant source of revenue for NVIDIA, once accounted for 20% to 25% of the company's data center chip income. However, U.S. export restrictions threaten to reduce NVIDIA's revenue share in China significantly. Despite efforts to regain market share, NVIDIA's prospects in China are increasingly uncertain.
Huang's statement about Taiwan's importance has sparked heated discussions on Weibo, China's social media platform. Some users have called for a boycott of NVIDIA, while others argue that NVIDIA's graphics cards are irreplaceable. Chinese financial media have reported on Huang's activities in Taiwan but have notably omitted his comment about the country's significance.
As NVIDIA continues to adapt to the evolving landscape, the tech industry will closely watch how these strategies unfold and what they mean for the future of international tech relations and market strategies in the face of geopolitical challenges.