Is Silicon Valley being built on Chinese AI?

NVIDIACORP CHIEF Executive Officer Jensen Huang recently declared to the Financial Times that: “China is going to win the AI race.” He later softened his stance, saying the US’s rival was merely“nanoseconds behind’, and thatit’s vital America comes out on top “by racing ahead and winning developers worldwide”.

- CATHERINE THORBECKE

Huang’s initial assessment is simplistic, and the motives for his negativity about the USare transparent. He has spent the past yeararguing that America benefits from his company selling chips to the Chinese market despite Washington’s encroaching export controls. But he is right to worry that the battle for developers may already be slipping away.

Inrecent weeks, a subtle shift has become increasingly apparent.Speculation has been stirring for months that low-cost, open-source Chinese AI models could lure global users away from US offerings. But nowit appears they are also quietly winning over Silicon Valley.