TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Wednesday praised the US decision to scrap export controls on AI chips to China, which were supposed to go into effect in May. 

Speaking on the sidelines of Computex in Taipei, Huang said the regulations have cost US companies billions of dollars in sales, per CNA. Under former US President Joe Biden, the framework split nations into three tiers, intended to prevent China from accessing the most advanced chips.

According to Huang, the export controls spurred China to build a supply chain not reliant on outside manufacturers. He said the controls forced companies in China to buy semiconductors from local designers such as Huawei.

Huang emphasized that US companies are not the only providers of such advanced technology. "Our competition in China is really intense. They would love for us never to go back to China,” Huang said, adding that China houses over half the world's AI researchers.

On April 15, the US government notified Nvidia that it would require a license to export its future H20 AI chips to China. Huang said that the company counted inventory-related losses of up to NT$165.9 billion (US$5.5 billion).

Furthermore, Huang said that over the last four years, Nvidia’s market share in China dropped from 95% to 50%. It also had to sell lower-specification chips, while China was researching and advancing its products. 

The Chinese AI market, worth roughly US$50 billion next year, is a major opportunity for Nvidia, Huang said. He hoped that changes to US policies would allow Nvidia to return to China.