China: Nvidia chips lose market share, while Huawei advances

Nthe race between the United States and China to develop artificial intelligence, the dispute for hardware and computing power is intensifying. The move comes as Chinese companies such as Huawei advance into the domestic market and challenge global leaders such as Nvidia.

Chip giant Nvidia’s CEO, Jensen Huang, has become an industry celebrity, but that status has not translated into success in selling advanced chips in China.

Controls imposed by Washington on exports of advanced technology, due to national security concerns, initially halted sales of Nvidia’s H200 chips in the country. When Huang obtained relief from American President Donald Trump, Beijing had already started to encourage the use of chips designed internally and manufactured by local rivals, led by Huawei.

Huang acknowledged that the United States has lost its edge in the Chinese market for advanced artificial intelligence chips as Chinese competitors have become “giants.”

“Well, we were in China for 30 years, and before export controls banned Nvidia from China, we had about 95% market share, so we were competing very well,” he said.

Santa Clara, California-based Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices rival AMD dominate the artificial intelligence chip sector in the United States and much of the global market. In China, however, Huawei has advanced significantly, while Chinese companies like DeepSeek are driving the search for chips with better performance and cost-benefit.

A report from Bernstein, a global research and brokerage firm, estimates that Nvidia would have around 40% of the artificial intelligence chip market in China in 2025, a percentage roughly equivalent to that of Huawei. Bernstein expects Nvidia’s share to fall to around 8% this year, while Huawei’s is expected to grow to approximately 50%.

By some metrics, Huawei’s most advanced commercial chips, the Ascend 950 series, can be seen as roughly comparable to Nvidia’s H200.

Beijing’s public stance on importing H200 chips has been unclear, and Nvidia has said it has not sold that model in China. At the company’s recent shareholder meeting, Huang said that the company has not yet “generated any revenue” from the product in the country.

“We are not sure if any imports will be allowed into the country,” he said.