Jensen Huang Backs 'Excellent' Chinese AI Models, Tells Washington to Ditch 'Science Fiction' Fears: 'Misunderstood The Impact of Kimi'

Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA ) CEO Jensen Huang said the U.S. should embrace, not ban, China’s AI models, arguing that high-quality open-source technology should be used rather than feared.

In an interview with Axios on Tuesday, Huang called the Chinese models “excellent” and dismissed concerns that OpenAI and Anthropic should fear open AI models, saying they broaden AI adoption by attracting new users, while many customers will still pay for the superior performance and reliability of closed models.

Huang pushed back on fears that downloaded Chinese AI models create a “backdoor” to Beijing, arguing they can be securely customized and isolated. “There’s no scenario where China runs U.S. companies off the road…Zero possibility,” Huang said.

He said open AI models improve security through public scrutiny and believes wider adoption of free AI will drive demand for Nvidia’s chips, data centers, and computing infrastructure. “The market misunderstood the impact of DeepSeek the first time,” the CEO said, adding that Wall Street has “misunderstood the impact of Kimi again this time.” Read Also: China's Moonshot AI Bets on Kimi K3 Momentum, Eyes $50 Billion Valuation Ahead of Hong Kong IPO: Report Huang’s Advice To Washington In another part of the interview, published on Thursday, Huang urged policymakers not to let “science fiction” fears about AI shape regulation, calling predictions of mass job losses and human extinction “complete nonsense.” He warned that discouraging AI adoption poses the bigger risk and encouraged officials to seek broader industry input, not just from “one or two” CEOs, before imposing restrictions.

Huang said some companies may be using safety concerns to push for regulations that benefit their own interests.

He also acknowledged concerns that the administration could overcorrect with excessive regulation.

China AI Debate Intensifies The Nvidia CEO’s advice comes on the heels of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent saying the Trump administration will investigate alleged intellectual property theft by Chinese AI models, warning that companies found using "distillation" to copy U.S.

AI technology could face sanctions.

He cited evidence of U.S.

AI model watermarks appearing in Chinese models and said the administration supports open-source AI but not IP theft.

There were also reports that the Trump Administration is planning to ban the Chinese open-source AI models after Moonshot AI released Kimi K3 last week, which outperformed several top U.S. models on certain industry benchmarks.

CNBC commentator Jim Cramer also warned that Chinese tech firms and AI models could pose a growing threat to the U.S.

He urged U.S. companies not to adopt Chinese AI models over national security concerns and criticized allowing Chinese access to U.S. corporate data while restricting Nvidia chip exports, calling the approach “finsuicide.” Meanwhile, BluBird Capital ‘s Anni Sen said strong demand for Moonshot AI’s Kimi K3 could drive long-term growth in AI chip demand, benefiting companies like Nvidia and Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: MU ).

Despite its efficient operation, the model’s massive memory requirements may increase enterprise AI workloads, creating a positive outlook for the memory chip market.

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published editors.

Image via Shutterstock Read Also: Intel And AMD Eye Multi-Year Server Chip Deals With Chinese Customers amid AI Boom: Report