China Challenges Nvidia’s Grip on the AI Chip Market

China is accelerating efforts to rival Nvidia’s dominance in the global AI chip industry, with major tech giants unveiling new processors that could reduce the country’s reliance on US technology.

Firms like Alibaba, Huawei, and Cambricon Technologies have launched high-performance chips said to match or exceed Nvidia’s scaled-down H20 models, while others such as MetaX and Tencent are pledging to use domestically produced semiconductors. The push follows the rise of DeepSeek, a Chinese startup whose ChatGPT rival briefly shook global markets in 2024.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang recently warned that China is only “nanoseconds behind” the US in chip development, though experts caution that Chinese chips still lag in complex analytics. Beijing, meanwhile, continues pouring billions into AI, robotics, and semiconductor research as part of President Xi Jinping’s drive for technological self-reliance.

With an ongoing US-China trade war and new antitrust scrutiny on Nvidia, the global race for AI chip supremacy is tightening — and China is closing in fast.