Jen-Hsun Huang once told me that issues about China and national security

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has a temperament like the late Apple founder Steve Jobs. I have interviewed both of them separately. They both have a personal charm that is hard to ignore in close contact, and they occasionally reveal a bit of genius.

Both men wore their signature black attire, but Huang chose to wear a leather jacket instead of Jobs's classic bottle-neck sweater.

Both are highly regarded innovators in the technology world. However, Huang is now under investigation for allegedly having an extramarital affair with an alleged Chinese spy.

Everything you’ve heard about artificial intelligence (AI) in the past few months, whether it’s positive, negative, revolutionary breakthroughs, or catastrophic consequences, hinges on access to the most powerful cutting-edge AI models.

And these models rely on the most powerful microchips. For years, the space has been dominated by Nvidia, led by Jensen Huang. The company's technology is derived from re-improved game image processing technology and combined with Taiwan's strong chip manufacturing capabilities.

Names like Gracehopper, Vera and Rubin mean almost nothing to the general public, but they are actually names for chips that support the development of artificial intelligence models that are changing the world.

I met with Jen-Hsun Huang during US President Donald Trump’s visit to the UK in September last year. He was talking to reporters at the time and encouraged Britain to continue to develop its technology industry.

That meeting also coincided with his efforts to lobby Trump to lift export restrictions on China so that Nvidia could sell some of its most powerful artificial intelligence chips to China, especially the H200 chip.

At that time, the United States had lifted its export ban on a lower-performance chip. I pointed out to Huang that he was one of the few people who was able to walk into the White House and meet with Trump, and then days later meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.

He made no secret of his stance and said he believed he had succeeded in persuading Trump to accept his case.

He said: "President Trump's position is very clear. He wants the United States to win, and President Xi Jinping also wants China to win, and both can actually be achieved at the same time. The reason is that this is not a zero-sum game. The progress of human society is not a zero-sum game."

He is probably the only person in the world who can say this with such confidence, because he may have heard the leaders of the two superpowers express their respective ideas.

Different perspectives on security risks

However, Huang’s view of a “zero-sum game” is not shared by many people in the national security field.

They believe that the race for the most advanced artificial intelligence technology is completely a zero-sum game, and that Western countries, especially the United States, must take key actions to prevent China from gaining technological advantage.

They believe that whichever country can develop the most powerful artificial intelligence systems using the most powerful chips will be victorious in areas such as scientific development, encryption cracking, economic growth, and cyber weapons.

Huang Renxun put forward another view: Not only is this not a national security challenge, but it makes the whole world, including China, dependent on the American system, which is more beneficial to the United States. These systems are called the "American tech stack," and Nvidia's chips are at the core of them.

Huang Jensen went further and said that President Trump "takes a very clear view" that this type of computing technology "is not a national security issue."

He told me: "Any military is smart enough to know that it should build its military systems with its own indigenous technology instead of relying on its opponents to build its own technology and military capabilities."

What does this reflect?

At that time, during the same period that Huang is now under independent investigation over national security concerns and alleged Chinese espionage, he publicly made the case for lifting the export ban on China and seemed to be well aware of President Trump's position.

Not only that, he also refuted another statement at the time: China's acquisition of Nvidia's technology would pose any form of national security threat.