Chinese AI chip market: Nvidia loses ground to Huawei’s advance after US restrictions
The intense competition in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector between the United States and China has intensified the dispute for hardware and computing capacity. This dynamic sees Chinese companies like Huawei gain traction in their local market, creating a direct challenge to global leaders like Nvidia.
Although Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, has achieved the status of a prominent figure in the semiconductor industry, this notoriety has not been reflected in significant sales of cutting-edge chips in China.
Restrictions on the export of advanced technology imposed by Washington, motivated by national security concerns, initially blocked the sale of Nvidia’s H200 chips in Chinese territory. Even after Huang obtained a relaxation of these measures from the then American president Donald Trump, the Chinese government had already prioritized the development and use of semiconductors developed locally by national competitors, with Huawei at the forefront.
Jensen Huang himself admitted that the United States has lost its hegemony in the Chinese market for advanced chips for artificial intelligence, noting that local competitors have turned into “giants”.
“We have been present in China for three decades, and before export restrictions banned Nvidia from the country, we held approximately 95% of the market share, which demonstrated our strong competitiveness,” declared the executive.
Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, Nvidia, together with its competitor Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), leads the artificial intelligence chip segment in the United States and much of the world. However, in China, Huawei has made notable progress, driven by local companies such as DeepSeek, which seek semiconductors with superior performance and greater economic viability.
An analysis by Bernstein, a renowned global research and brokerage firm, indicated that Nvidia had around 40% of the Chinese AI chip market in 2025, a share similar to that of Huawei. However, Bernstein’s projection points to Nvidia’s share falling to approximately 8% later this year, while Huawei’s could expand to around 50%.
According to some technical evaluations, Huawei’s most advanced commercial chips, belonging to the Ascend 950 series, present a performance that can be considered approximately equivalent to Nvidia’s H200 model.
Beijing’s official stance regarding the import of H200 chips has been ambiguous, and Nvidia, in turn, stated that it did not sell this model in China. During the company’s most recent shareholder meeting, Huang confirmed that the company has not yet “generated any revenue” from the product in the Chinese market.
“It is not certain whether any imports will be authorized in the country”, added the executive.
