Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s recent visit to Beijing has sparked a wave of public enthusiasm, with videos on Chinese social media showing the billionaire executive signing autographs, posing for selfies, and mingling with fans on the streets—an unusual sight for a global tech CEO. This marked Huang’s third visit to China in 2025 and coincided with the reopening of H20 chip sales in the country following a US-imposed ban in April.The head of the world’s most valuable company arrived in China last week to attend the China International Supply Chain Expo, just days after meeting US President Donald Trump. Huang’s presence in Beijing came amid growing geopolitical tensions and trade restrictions between Washington and Beijing, with Nvidia’s $17 billion China business caught in the middle of an intensifying technology rivalry, Reuters reported.“Jensen Huang’s visit aimed to demonstrate Nvidia’s commitment to the Chinese market,” said Lian Jye Su, chief analyst at Omdia. “However, this commitment must be balanced against potential US government concerns about deepening ties with China.”In Beijing, Huang praised Chinese AI models developed by DeepSeek, Alibaba, and Tencent as “world class”, and said demand for Nvidia’s H20 chips had surged since the launch of DeepSeek models in January. He also held meetings with senior Chinese officials, including Vice Premier and trade tsar He Lifeng and Commerce Minister Wang Wentao, which he described as “wonderful”.“Nvidia will still need to see the tide clearly and ride it at the right time to maximize the available benefits. But good for the company, I think it has a CEO who’s very good at doing that,” said Tilly Zhang, a technology analyst with Gavekal Dragonomics, quoted Reuters.Despite the warm reception, some analysts say Nvidia’s dominance in China could face long-term challenges. “The Chinese government will actively help or subsidize domestic rivals that can one day stand up to and, at least in some use cases, replace high-end Nvidia chips,” said Charlie Chai, an analyst with 86Research.When asked how US officials reacted to his China trip, Huang told reporters, “I told President Trump and his cabinet that I was coming to China. Told him about my trip here, and he said, ‘Have a great trip’.”At the Expo, Huang wore a traditional black Chinese-style jacket instead of his trademark leather one and referred to himself as “Chinese” during his speech. He lauded the scale of China’s supply chain as “vast” and praised even strategic rival Huawei Technologies.“I think the fact of the matter is, anyone who discounts Huawei and anyone who discounts China’s manufacturing capability is deeply naive. This is a formidable company,” Huang said.
