Nvidia CEO says will balance compliance and tech advances under Trump

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said Saturday that his company will balance legal compliance and technological advances under the incoming administration of Donald Trump, and nothing will stop the global advancement of artificial intelligence.

The US chipmaking giant this week reported record high quarterly revenue on the back of strong AI chip demand, though investors are wary of US-China tensions reheating during a new Trump term.

The Taiwan-born entrepreneur was in Hong Kong to receive an honorary doctorate in engineering from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

"Whatever happens, we'll balance simultaneously compliance with laws and policies, continue to advance our technology, and support and serve customers all over the world," Huang told reporters on Saturday.

"We'll continue to do that and we'll be able to do that just fine."

The Biden administration has restricted Nvidia from selling some of its top AI chips to China, which it sees as a strategic competitor in the field of advanced semiconductors.

Huang said Saturday that "open science and open research in AI is absolutely global... nothing that I see in the future is going to stop that."

Huang said in a speech that the "age of AI has started" and lauded China's "significant contributions" to the scientific research that push forward AI technology.

"AI is certainly the most important technology of our time, and potentially of all times," he said.

Tech giants around the world have invested tens of billions of dollars into Nvidia's technology to train their generative AI models and support their heavy computing needs.

Nvidia surpassed Apple early this month to become the highest valued company in the world as the artificial intelligence boom continues to excite Wall Street.