Overview
- Financial Times quoted Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang saying “China is going to win the AI race,” citing cheaper power and looser rules, before Nvidia posted a softened line that China is “nanoseconds behind” and stressed the need for a U.S. win.
- The White House reiterated it is not interested in allowing sales of Nvidia’s most advanced Blackwell chips to China, reinforcing export limits that shape the competitive landscape.
- Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said the binding constraint for AI deployment is electricity and data‑center capacity, warning of chips that cannot be plugged in due to limited power and “warm shells.”
- OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar’s suggestion of a possible government financing “backstop” drew pushback, and CEO Sam Altman clarified that OpenAI neither has nor wants guarantees for its data centers while acknowledging discussions about loan guarantees for U.S. chip fabs.
- AI‑linked stocks swung on the commentary, with reports noting Nvidia shares fell more than 7% this week and hundreds of billions in market value were erased as investors reassessed energy, policy, and financing risks.