Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang is scheduled to visit China in the coming days, just ahead of the mid-February Lunar New Year, according to two individuals familiar with the matter as reported by CNBC.
This visit occurs amidst ongoing questions regarding Nvidia's capacity to operate within the Chinese market, which previously contributed to at least 20% of the company's revenue from its data center business. The U.S. government has imposed export restrictions, limiting Nvidia’s ability to sell its most advanced chips to China in an effort to maintain technological superiority over Beijing in the field of artificial intelligence.
One of the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, revealed that Huang is slated to attend an Nvidia company event in Beijing on Monday. Additionally, Huang is expected to engage with potential buyers in China and discuss recent logistical challenges in the delivery of U.S.-approved Nvidia chips to the region, according to another individual with direct knowledge of the travel arrangements.
According to a report from The Information last week, Chinese authorities would only sanction purchases of Nvidia's H200 AI chips for specific applications such as research purposes. When questioned about this report on Thursday, China's Commerce Ministry stated it was unaware of the situation.
Bloomberg initially reported Huang's planned visit to China earlier this week. Nvidia has declined to offer any comments regarding these executive travel plans.
Huang has previously visited mainland China at least three times in the past year, including once in January for the Lunar New Year celebrations.