Jensen Huang, Nvidia CEO, claims that China can build major AI data centers in days

Published on Dec 15, 2025 at 10:20 AM (UTC+4)
by Claire Reid

Last updated on Dec 15, 2025 at 10:20 AM (UTC+4)
Edited by Kate Bain

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang claims China has a huge advantage over the US when it comes to building AI data centers, saying that the country can construct huge facilities in just days.

Nvidia’s chips have allowed AI technology to scale up at an impressive rate. 

Earlier this year, the American company became the first to surpass a $4 trillion valuation, before quickly going on to top that with a $5 trillion valuation. 

Recent reports suggest it could become the world’s first $10 trillion company, but now its CEO has somewhat of a warning for the US. 

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Nvidia says China can build data centers much faster

Nvidia CEO Huang said that when it comes to artificial intelligence, his company is ‘generations ahead’ of its counterparts.

However, he did highlight a couple of areas where he thinks China could perform far better than the US. 

Speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Huang suggested that when it comes to construction and energy capacity, China is ahead of America. 

He said that building large-scale facilities, such as AI data centers, can take years in America but could be finished in days in China. 

“If you want to build a data centre here in the United States, from breaking ground to standing up an AI supercomputer is probably about three years,” he said. 

“[China] can build a hospital in a weekend.”

He also raised concerns about energy availability, adding that China has ‘twice as much energy as we have as a nation, and our economy is larger than theirs’.

Nvidia, which is headquartered in Santa Clara, California, is one of a handful of tech giants that has invested heavily in new data centers in the US as AI technology becomes more widespread.

Huang believes China will ‘win the AI race’

Last month, Huang hit headlines after reportedly saying that he believed China would ‘win the AI race’. 

Shortly after, the CEO quickly issued a revised statement backtracking on the reported comments but seemed to warn against complacency. 

“As I have long said, China is nanoseconds behind America in AI,” he said. 

“It’s vital that America wins by racing ahead and winning developers worldwide.”

He made similar comments more recently, saying that ‘anybody who thinks China can’t manufacture is missing a big idea’.

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With a background in both local and national press in the UK, Claire moved to New Zealand before joining the editorial team at Supercar Blondie in May 2024. As a Senior Content Writer working on New Zealand Standard Time (NZST), Claire was the first writer on the team to make the site’s output a slick 24/7 operation covering the latest in automotive news.