Credit, Reuters
Jensen Huang reminds, in some ways, of the late Steve Jobs. I've interviewed both of them and noticed that they share a striking charisma — as well as a genius that, at times, can be a little harsh.
Both adopted a black garment as their trademark; in the case of Huang, from Nvdia, it is a leather jacket, while the Apple founder preferred turtleneck sweaters.
Both are revered innovators in the technology world. But today Huang is being investigated due to his alleged involvement with a Chinese spy.
Everything you've heard about artificial intelligence in recent months — whether positive, negative, revolutionary or catastrophic — depends on the existence of the most powerful AI models.
In turn, these models depend on the most powerful microchips — a field dominated for years by Nvidia, a company led by Huang, whose technology has roots in video cards and relies on manufacturing capacity in Taiwan.
Names like Grace Hopper, Vera and Rubin barely mean anything to the public, but they are the names of chips that drive the creation of AI models that are transforming the world.
I met Huang as he spoke to reporters and offered words of encouragement for the future of the UK technology sector during US President Donald Trump's state visit to the country in September last year.
This even occurred right in the middle of his attempts to convince Trump to lift export bans to China on some of the highest performance AI chips — specifically the H200.
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In January 2026, Washington eased controls on Nvidia's H200 processors. Under the agreement, the United States keeps 25% of the sales value.
An export ban on a less powerful chip had already been revoked.
I commented that he was probably one of the few people able to enter the White House to meet with Trump and, a few days later, meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.
He did not hide his opinions or his assessment that he had managed to convince Trump of his point of view.
"President Trump is very clear. He wants the United States to win, and President Xi wants China to win — and it's possible for both of them to win. The reason is that this is not a zero-sum game. The progress of human society is not a zero-sum game."
He is probably the only person in the world who could have uttered this phrase with the authority of someone who possibly heard it personally from both leaders of these superpowers.
Divergent views on security risks
However, his view on the "zero-sum game" is not shared by many in national security circles.
Their perspective is that the race for the most advanced forms of AI is a zero-sum game, requiring the West — and the US, in particular — to take decisive action to contain China's advance.
The country that creates the most powerful AI systems, using the most advanced chips, will win in areas such as scientific development, breaking encryption, economic growth and the development of cyber weapons.
He made an additional argument: far from posing a challenge to national security, it would actually be to the US's advantage if the world—including China—became dependent on American systems; what they called the "American technological stack", with Nvidia chips as its base.
Huang went even further, stating that President Trump had a "very clear view" that "this computer technology does not constitute a national security concern."
He told the BBC: "Any military force is intelligent enough to build its structure based on its own technology, without relying on an adversary to develop its technology or its military capabilities."
What does this reveal to us?
At that time, Huang clearly defended the lifting of export restrictions, demonstrating that he was well aware of President Trump's position.
More than that, he contested the idea that his technology, if in the hands of China, would pose any type of threat to national security.
Nvidia is the absolute epicenter of the US AI technology boom and the global race for AI supremacy.
Even if the industry suffers a downturn, Nvidia is expected to remain in an extremely strong position.
The company records concrete revenues of around US$400 billion this year.
The drop of around 4% in its value, observed on Monday (11/9), reflects new and extraordinary risks at the intersection of technology and global politics; Still, the chipmaker maintains a market value of more than US$4 trillion.
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