With Nvidia CEO Jensen Huangs resignation on Thursday, an accused Chinese spy has taken out the No. 1 player on Americas AI roster. This is worse than a first-and-goal fumble. Its a body blow that puts the U.S.-China AI race in flux.
Chinese President Xi Jinping knows that if he doesnt stop the momentum soon, Americas lead in AI will forestall his countrys plans to take over and become a world hegemon.
If Nvidia stumbles without Huang, China has us right where it wants us. Nvidia was the first company to surpass the $5 trillion milestone in market capitalization. Fellow CEOs like Michael Dell lauded him as a “great partner and friend, a true leader and visionary of the AI age” just last spring. Yet reports of Nvidia chip smuggling led Singapore to launch an investigation in 2025.
SOUND OFF ON JENSEN HUANG’S RESIGNATION FROM NVIDIA
Here’s what America must do to stop Chinas assault.
1. Wake up to the pervasive China threat. It comes as no surprise that an accused Chinese spy targeted Jensen Huang. Americans have to wise up.
The Wall Street Journal reported back in 2022 on Chinas attempts to influence state and local government leaders and officials. Americans in the defense sector already know to steer clear of inquisitive strangers at trade shows.
Sad to say, but Chinese citizens should be treated cautiously. Due to Chinas national security laws, every Chinese citizen operating abroad, whether a high-flying executive or a student at a U.S. university, is obliged to give the Ministry of State Security information, if asked.
US ATTORNEY WARNS CHINESE ESPIONAGE IS ‘EXTREMELY PERVASIVE,’ SAYS BEIJING ‘PLAYING THE LONG GAME’
2. Encourage the competitors.Â
Nvidias market share is massive, but it is not the only game in town. Top rival AMDâwhose processors power El Capitan, the supercomputer that claimed the world’s No. 1 spot upon its debutâis a major competitor. Meanwhile, tech giants like Google, AWS, Meta, and Microsoft are increasingly deploying their own “custom silicon” in-house and via cloud services, part of a custom AI chip market projected by some analysts to grow from $32 billion in 2026 to $132 billion by 2035. As Google rolls out newer generations of its Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) to challenge Nvidias dominance, hyperscalers are actively working to reduce their reliance on Nvidia’s hardware.
