Report from Financial Times
In Brief – The CEO of Nvidia, the leading AI-optimized chip maker and now the most valuable company in the world, is warning that “China is going to win the AI race” due to lower energy costs and looser regulation. Jensen Huang, in London to speak at a conference on the Future of AI, said the west, including the US and UK, is being held back by “cynicism”. He was especially critical of new AI regulations being enacted in a growing number of US states. He also noted how China is pouring massive investments into electricity generation, saying “Power is free” for the major Chinese AI developers. Although the US Government currently blocks the most advanced Nvidia chip systems from being sold to China, Huang says that such sales should be allowed in order to win over Chinese AI developers to the US technology.
Context – Stoking fear that China will “win the AI race” appears to be the most potent talking point in the US tech giants’ arsenal. Putting aside the fact that nobody knows what winning AI means, because the nebulous technology is still mostly powerful in a science fiction context, both nation’s governments appear committed to winning the AI Cold War. From the perspective of AI regulation, the second Trump Administration pushed US AI policy firmly in the direction of deregulation and investment. The UK and Japan have also moved that direction, and the EU, home of the landmark AI Act, is desperate to grow a local AI industry that can join the competition. Colorado was the first state to follow the EU’s AI Act with by enacting a comprehensive AI safety bill in 2024. California passed a slew of targeted AI measures in 2024, and again in 2025, and legislation is percolating in dozens more. The state efforts are stirring industry pushback. A five-year moratorium on state AI laws, backed by the Trump Administration, was part of the big Republican reconciliation bill this summer, but was pulled when a handful of GOP Senators objected, dooming the effort. Finally, Huang was not just talking about regulation, he covetously mentioned Chinese subsidies. In that spirit, OpenAI is urging federal tax credits to promote US AI data center building.