NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang recently asserted that the pervasive adoption of the "American tech stack" globally is crucial for the United States to secure victory in the artificial intelligence (AI) race. Speaking on the All-In Podcast, Huang highlighted the emergence of the Chinese AI model DeepSeek as a significant development, paradoxically viewing its success as a "win for the United States." This perspective underscores the strategic importance of foundational technologies and developer ecosystems in the global AI landscape.
Huang emphasized that DeepSeek's ability to run on the American tech stack, rather than being confined to a non-American platform like Huawei, demonstrates the inherent advantage of an open, globally adopted standard. "Imagine if DeepSeek came out and only ran on Huawei," Huang stated, underscoring the risk of technological fragmentation. He reasoned that any computing platform thrives due to its developer community, noting that "half of the world's developers are in China."
DeepSeek, developed by a Chinese startup, garnered significant attention for its advanced reasoning capabilities and efficiency, with its R1 model ranking highly against leading American AI models. Its release initially sparked concerns about China's rapid AI advancements and even led to a temporary sell-off in AI stocks, including NVIDIA's. However, Huang praised DeepSeek as "genuinely a gift to the world's AI industry," acknowledging its substantial computer science breakthroughs.
The NVIDIA CEO's comments come amidst an intensifying US-China competition for technological supremacy in AI, encompassing semiconductors, software frameworks, and talent. While the US has implemented export controls to limit China's access to advanced AI chips, China is accelerating efforts towards self-sufficiency, forming alliances to create its own unified tech stack. This includes initiatives to link hardware and AI models, aiming to reduce reliance on American technologies.
Despite China's advancements and efforts to build indigenous AI ecosystems, the US maintains advantages in existing talent infrastructure and research quality. Huang's argument highlights that the global interoperability and widespread adoption of the American tech stack foster a more open and collaborative environment for AI development, benefiting even models originating from competing nations. The ongoing rivalry is pushing both nations to innovate, with the outcome potentially reshaping global power dynamics.