Nvidia's Huang hails Chinese AI models as 'world class'

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang described artificial intelligence models from Chinese firms Deepseek, Alibaba and Tencent as "world class" and said AI was "revolutionising" supply chains, at an exhibition in Beijing on Wednesday.

Huang spoke briefly at the opening ceremony of a supply chain expo, one day after the AI giant said it would once again be able to sell its highly popular H20 chips in China.

Billionaire Huang is on his third visit to China this year, days after meeting with US President Donald Trump, as his firm walks a tightrope between the world's two largest economies, each of which is battling for global dominance in AI and other cutting edge technologies.

Huang is also expected to hold a closed door media event in Beijing later on Wednesday afternoon.

The CEO of the world's most valuable firm told state broadcaster CCTV on Tuesday that the Chinese market is massive, dynamic, and highly innovative, and it's crucial for American companies to establish roots in China.

On Tuesday, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the planned resumption of sales of Nvidia's H20 AI chips to China was part of US negotiations on rare earths.

"The most recent change was really related to the constructive and positive discussions between the US government and the Chinese government as it relates to export control discussions," Huang told media on the sidelines of the expo opening.

"I have been assured that the licenses will come very fast. There are many order books already in," he added.

Orders from Chinese companies for the chips need to be sent by Nvidia to the US government for approval. Sources said that internet giants ByteDance and Tencent are in the process of submitting applications.

ByteDance denied that it is currently submitting applications. Tencent did not respond to a request for comment.

Nvidia has also announced it is developing a new chip for Chinese clients called the RTX Pro GPU that would also be compliant with US export restrictions.