The escalating technology rivalry between the United States and China has dealt a severe blow to Nvidia‘s (Nasdaq: NVDA) business, with the semiconductor leader caught in the crossfire of export controls that have disrupted global AI chip supply chains.
Speaking alongside the Computex technology show in Taipei, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang revealed the steep financial cost of US restrictions on selling advanced chips to China, quantifying the damage at $15 billion in lost sales.
Read: US Blocks Nvidia Exports to China Under Latest Retaliation
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“Not only am I losing $5.5 billion, we wrote off $5.5 billion, we walked away from $15 billion of sales and probably $3 billion worth of taxes,” Huang said during an interview with tech analyst Ben Thompson on Sunday, marking his most candid assessment of the impact since export controls were tightened in April.
The restrictions are part of the latest escalation in a years-long effort to limit China’s access to advanced semiconductor technology. The Trump administration’s decision to require licenses for Nvidia’s H20 chips came despite the company’s efforts to design the processor specifically to meet previous export control requirements.
Industry insiders noted the timing of the ban followed a period of mixed signals from Washington. Reports in early April suggested restrictions might be paused after Huang attended a high-profile fundraising dinner at Mar-a-Lago, but days later, regulators informed Nvidia that licenses would be required indefinitely.
During his remarks in Taipei, Huang challenged the strategic wisdom of the restrictions, suggesting they could accelerate China’s push for semiconductor self-sufficiency.
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“Anybody who thought that one chess move to somehow ban China from H20s would somehow cut off their ability to do AI is deeply uninformed,” Huang said, adding that “50% of the world’s AI researchers are Chinese and you’re not going to hold them back.”
Related: US Extends Export Controls on Huawei AI Chips to ‘Anywhere in World’
The geopolitical tensions have forced Nvidia to pivot its China strategy. Sources familiar with the matter say the company is now developing entirely new chip architectures for the Chinese market after Huang confirmed that further modifications to the current Hopper design are impossible.
“It’s not possible to modify Hopper anymore,” he said, referring to the chip architecture underlying the H20.
Chinese technology firms have responded by pouring billions into domestic semiconductor development. Huawei has accelerated production of its Ascend AI chips, while smartphone maker Xiaomi announced a $6.9 billion investment in chip design over the next decade.
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