(MENAFN) Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang appeared Thursday to walk back controversial statements made a day earlier suggesting "China is going to win the AI race."

Huang told media on Wednesday that the West, including the US and Britain, faces obstacles from "cynicism" and called for "more optimism" during Financial Times' Future of AI Summit.

He criticized emerging US state-level AI regulations that could generate "50 new regulations," contrasting them with Chinese energy subsidies enabling cheaper operations for domestic firms developing alternatives to Nvidia's AI chips, declaring: "Power is free."

However, Nvidia released a statement Thursday from the CEO on US social media platform X.

"As I have long said, China is nanoseconds behind America in AI. It's vital that America wins by racing ahead and winning developers worldwide," Huang said in the statement.

He has consistently argued that if developers maintain reliance on Nvidia's leading AI chips, the US can preserve its advantage in the AI race. The CEO has leveraged this argument to oppose export restrictions on his company's China sales.

His lobbying efforts appeared successful, as Washington agreed to ease certain chip restrictions following discussions with US President Donald Trump in July.

Under the agreement, Nvidia and AMD, a competing AI chip manufacturer, committed to providing the US government 15% of their Chinese sales revenue from current AI processors designed for that market.

Yet Beijing has since blocked Nvidia from the market while conducting national security reviews of its processors; according to Huang, the US chip company's market share has plummeted to zero.

Huang reportedly expressed concerns in an interview that "cynicism" and excessive regulations were hindering the West, particularly the US, in stark contrast to China's energy subsidies designed to lower costs for domestic companies using indigenous chips.

MENAFN08112025000045017169ID1110314078